6. I Become Supreme Lord Of The Bathroom

Once Chiron had shaken out his fetlocks, he jumped off the porch to the ground below. Turning around, he said "Are you coming Percy? We really must get you settled in at Cabin Eleven."

I frowned and said "With all due respect sir, I told you before I'm not planning on staying long. I have to figure out how to get to the underworld and get my mom out."

Chiron frowned as well as he said "Now Percy, I know you said that you located your mother's presence underground so you think she's there, but even if you're right, going to the underworld is practically suicide. Even with your-er unique talents. I couldn't in good conscience allow you to go there, especially by yourself."

My eyes narrowed dangerously as I said "So I'm just supposed to forget about her?"

"Oh, gods, no! But there are certain rules to these kinds of things that must be followed. But I assure you, I am quite certain you will be going there soon anyway."

I frowned and was about to ask why he had just said something that was so contradictory to his stance on me going, but he turned and began walking away from the house and I was forced to follow. As we walked, we passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said "That's him."

Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I was ignoring their looks when the hairs on my neck stood up and I sensed a gaze on me coming from the building we had just left. I spun around and saw a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I shuddered at the sight I had seen.

"Chiron?" I asked causing the centaur to stop and look back at me as he said "Yes Percy?" I could hear his curiosity at me calling him by his name since I usually called him sir. Pointing to the window, I said "What's up there?"

Chiron frowned when he saw where I was pointing and said "Just the attic."

I frowned at him and said "Mind telling me why there's a mummified creature up there?"

Chiron stiffened before he relaxed and said "That was the Oracle. But it doesn't usually move. Interesting, come, we really should keep moving, lots to see."

I sent another look at the window wondering why Chiron had called the thing an it if he talked about it like it was alive before I shrugged and followed him. We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe. Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."

He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those since he was also restricted from consuming any kind of alcoholic drink including wine, so they grew strawberries instead.

I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. It reminded me of an Aburame purging a farmer's fields of any insects that did more harm than good to the crops. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music. Then I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.

Looking sideways to Chiron as we continued to walk, I said "Grover's not going to get into too much trouble will he?"

Chiron sighed as he shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horse's back like a saddle. Giving me a serious look he said "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."

I snorted and said "I had a few dreams in my previous life that everyone said were impossible for me to accomplish. I accomplished those dreams anyway and those very same people had to eat those words. I've helped unite all of the countries in the Elemental Nations under one banner, not an easy feat to do on a continent filled with shinobi. If Grover wants to pursue his dream then you shouldn't doubt him. I've felt his presence before and it feels a lot like mine did when I was first starting as a Genin. Just give him a chance and I'm sure he'll impress you."

Chiron winced and said "I'm afraid that bringing you here was his second chance Percy, and I'm afraid Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders will most likely not be impressed with his performance. After all, Grover lost you in New York, granted you left him with the intention of keeping him out of danger, but he should have kept you in his sight the whole time. Then there's the unfortunate event of your mother disappearing like she did. Add the fact that Grover was unconscious when you carried him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."

I snorted again and said "Yeah, because all of them have had the car they're riding in get blasted at by a lighting bolt that could potentially put Kakashi-sensei's Chidori to shame. Where is this council? I'll make sure they know just what exactly he went through. I never did like councils." The last part was muttered under my breath but I knew that Chiron heard it with those radar ears of his when his eyebrow raised.

Sighing, Chiron said "They would have reason to be harsh with him Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another chance, not after what happened the first time, five years ago. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age…"

"How old is he?" I asked.

"Oh, twenty-eight." Chiron said off-handedly and it was my own eyebrow's turn to raise as I said "He's twenty-eight and he's still in sixth grade? And I thought all school teachers except for you and Iruka-sensei hated me."

Chiron chuckled and said "Satyrs mature half as fast as humans Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."

I tried to picture being in middle school for that long or even the academy for eight years and I shuddered as I said "Hate to be a satyr then. I'd probably go mad and prank the school I was in so bad it'd take a year to clean up the mess."

"Quite." Chiron agreed obviously remembering the time when I had metaphorically snapped that one time at Yancy and ended up super gluing the entire student population of my English class to their seats when they said that a poem I had written down for homework that was from the Elemental Nations was the worst kind of trash imaginable and not even worth the paper it was on. That poem had been passed down in the Hidden Leaf Village for just over a century and was written by Hiruzen Sarutobi himself. Those kids just couldn't understand the arts.

"At any rate," Chiron said "Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career…"

His voice trailed off as I shot him a glare and said "You sound exactly like Iruka-sensei did when he told me I would never be able to make a useful clone in my life. Which tells me that you either never had any faith in him or his first time must have been the ultimate cluster fuck of all time. What the hell could have happened to make you have no faith in him?"

Chiron quickly looked away and said "Let's move along, shall we?"

But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Deciding to make sure to get my point across, I stopped and said "Chiron?" When he also stopped and turned his head to look back at me, I said "I told you Iruka-sensei once told me I could never make a proper clone in my life. I proved him wrong when I learned how to do this." I crossed my hands and a poof of smoke erupted beside me before it cleared and revealed a shadow clone. Chiron looked stunned as I kept the clone around for ten seconds and then dispelled it before I walked past him. As I did, I said "You really shouldn't judge Grover so harshly. He's going to surprise you all, I can tell."

Chiron was quiet as he began walking beside me again before he gestured to the woods and we changed course slightly to head there instead of the cabins. As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, I almost thought we were back in the Land of Fire, staring out of the Leaf Village's main gate at the surrounding trees. In this realm, I could imagine nobody had been in there with anything resembling an axe since the Native Americans.

Chiron said "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed. Even with your skills, I wouldn't go in there without a weapon."

My eyebrow rose and I said "Stocked with what exactly?"

"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"

I rose an eyebrow before I formed a wind sword in my hand and said "The very air around us is my weapon Chiron. As for shields, we shinobi don't really use them."

Chiron frowned as he said "Right, I forgot about what you're former occupation was exactly. Still, I'd recommend you go to the armory. I'm sure that you could find a dagger or sword that would work for you."

Chiron turned from the woods and our tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (Which Chiron obviously didn't seem to like very much), the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights. He then pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof, no walls. I frowned at the lack of any true shelter making it less of a hall and more of a glorified picnic area. I didn't say anything though since I sensed it would be pointless.

Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without a doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen, in this realm or my previous one.

Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory. Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at. They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops.

In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire pit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.

The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.

"Zeus and Hera?" I asked.

"Correct."

I frowned as I looked at the two cabins which didn't seem to have been used in the past century, if ever, and said "They look so empty, like they were just made as if the architect simply went through the motions."

"Several of the cabins are empty right now. That is an unfortunate truth, but no one ever stays in one or two."

I frowned at Chiron's response. Hera I could guess why considering what she was the goddess of, but some of the other cabins being empty as well? Either some of the gods were becoming more virtuous over the centuries, or there was something big going on here. As I was trying to figure out which one it was, I felt a sudden pulling sensation from the first cabin on the left, cabin three.

It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. I could smell that the interior had a salty scent, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down, but like cabins one and two, there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. It had a sad air and felt so lonely, like the cabin wanted to be filled but knew it couldn't be.

I was pulled from my thoughts when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said "Come along Percy."

I gave the cabin one last look before I followed Chiron. I knew that I belonged in that cabin but I didn't say anything. Chiron was freaked out when I showed him what I could do in my previous life. Couple that with my new skills I think I would probably give the guy a heart attack if I said I was pretty sure that I was the son of one of the Big Three.

Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers. Number five was bright red- a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists (Which was probably true considering the occupants inside). The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL Camp Half-Blood T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. I rose an eyebrow as I was reminded of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.

I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves as I said "We haven't seen any other centaurs around here."

"No." Chiron said sadly "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."

I frowned at that since Chiron seemed to be as far from barbaric as a chipmunk was a tiger. Either centaurs had degraded with the ages or Chiron was simply just one of those exceptions to the rules. I absentmindedly noticed his white stallion's body again and my mind instantly focused on it as I remembered the description 'Mr. Brunner' had given us of one particular centaur.

"Holy shit. You're the actual Chiron aren't you? The one who trained Hercules."

Chiron frowned at me and said "Language Percy." Then he smiled and said "But yes, yes I am."

"Dang, talk about longevity. How are you still alive? I mean that was thousands of years ago, shouldn't you be dead?" I said trying to figure out how he was alive for so long since it obviously wasn't normal or the other centaurs would have hopefully sobered up in their old age.

Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see eons ago, the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish…and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."

I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list. Especially when you consider that your students would always die before you.

"It must be sad seeing all of your students die before you." I said solemnly.

Chiron gave a sad nod as he said "Indeed." Then he seemed to perk up as he spotted the girl from before and said "Oh, look, Annabeth is waiting for us."

Said blond girl was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven. When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was trying to still figure out how I had jumped so far from the tree as if it was nothing.

I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't quite make out the title. The title was in Greek and had pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book. Which probably explained why I couldn't figure out the full title if it was about architecture. I had always focused more on the mythological side of Greek in my studies of the language, and there were quite a few words used purely for architecture when speaking it.

"Annabeth, I have masters' archery class soon. Would you take Percy from here?" Chiron said drawing me out of my thoughts about the book.

"Yes sir." Annabeth said.

"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."

Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it, a caduceus. I frowned at the symbol wishing it was a red cross instead of a caduceus which always reminded me of a certain snake using traitor but shook those thoughts away as I looked inside the cabin.

It was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.

Chiron didn't go in since the door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully. It reminded me of how the villagers would always bow to Old Man Sarutobi whenever he took his walks.

"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck Percy. I'll see you later." And with that parting farewell, Chiron turned and galloped away toward the archery range.

I looked through the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. It reminded me of the stare-down shinobi usually get in before they fight their opponent.

"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."

I shrugged and walked through the doorway and gave a small bow of my own as I said "Hello, my name is Percy Jackson. I hope we can get along well."

There were some snickers at my introduction while a few others gave small waves as they smiled. Somebody asked "Regular or undetermined?"

Knowing what the kid was asking, I said "Undetermined, although I have a pretty good idea who my dad is."

Everybody groaned although I could tell that they were curious. Then a guy who was a little older than the rest came forward as he said "Now, now campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."

The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash. He instantly reminded me of some of the veteran shinobi I had worked with when I was younger. Veterans of the Third Shinobi War that were really good fighters but not good enough to get out of the fighting without collecting a few 'souvenirs'.

"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and smirked as I saw that she was blushing ever so slightly. She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor for now."

"You're undetermined," Luke said before I could even open my mouth, (Not that I was going to. It was pretty obvious why Annabeth said 'for now') like he had said this many times in the past. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."

I nodded and looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I pulled a small folded up piece of paper out of my pants' pocket that I always kept on hand for emergencies and unfolded it to reveal three tiny seals on it. Ignoring the raised eyebrows from most of the people in cabin eleven, I walked over to the spot and placed the paper down as I poured chakra into one of the storage seals. There was the usual burst of smoke surprising all of the other campers before it cleared and revealed a camouflage green sleeping bag sitting on the floor. I picked up my seal tag and refolded it before I turned around and saw everyone staring at me.

I smirked and said "What? Don't tell me you guys don't have some magical way to store things into smaller objects."

"We do, but nothing like that." Luke said as he looked at the paper that was still in my hand. I shrugged as I pocketed the paper and said "Yeah well, we do things a little differently where I'm from."

I could see that they all had more questions but Annabeth grabbed my arm and said "Come on, I'll show you the volleyball court."

I shrugged and let her drag me out of the cabin. When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said "Jackson, where exactly are you from?"

I rose an eyebrow wondering why we couldn't have had this conversation in the cabin but said "Well that depends on which life you're asking about."

Annabeth had continued walking but stopped when she heard what I said. Turning back around with a frown, she said "What do you mean which life?"

I smiled as I lifted my right hand up like I did in Gabe's Camaro yesterday and a rasengan spun into existence shocking her. Still smiling, I said "This isn't my first time on the road of life Annabeth. I learned quite a few things my first time through. Of course where I'm from originally we do things quite differently than most of this world."

"You were reincarnated?" Annabeth asked in a whisper and I saw an unidentifiable emotion that was probably closest to hope and anxiety flit across her eyes. I nodded as my rasengan faded away and said "Yeah, but I have to say, this life is nowhere near as exciting as my first one."

Annabeth was about to say something to that when a husky voice yelled "Well! A newbie!"

I looked over towards the voice and frowned. The big girl from the ugly red cabin was sauntering her way toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.

"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"

"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

"Eres es korakas!" Annabeth said, which I mentally translated into English as "Go to the crows!" Sounded to me like one of those slightly obscure taunts of "Go fuck yourself and then kill your sorry ass!" "You don't stand a chance." Annabeth said coolly.

"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched and I smirked. It seemed that she wasn't completely sure she could follow through on the threat. She turned toward me and scowled at my smirk as she said "Who's this little runt?"

"Percy Jackson, meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares." Annabeth said.

I blinked, and said "As in the war god?"

Clarisse sneered and said "You got a problem with that?"

I cocked my head and said "Not a problem per-say, but I figured the children of a god of fighting would focus less on looking like the minotaur and more on getting their bodies into proper fighting shape."

Annabeth let out a small snort while Clarisse growled and said "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."

"It's Percy actually, and I'll pass." I said calmly staring at the girl.

"You don't have a choice, Prissy." Clarisse sneered.

"Clarisse-" Annabeth tried to say.

"Stay out of it, wise girl."

Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and I was glad since I didn't want her getting involved in a fight without knowing her abilities first. Whenever you fought alongside someone who you didn't know the abilities of, you were bound to get in each other's way. Besides, I was the new kid here, I had to earn my own rep.

So I handed Annabeth the minotaur horn that I hadn't let go of since last night and got into the starting stance of the Academy style. I wasn't in it for half a second before Clarisse lunged at me and made a move to put me in a headlock. I grabbed her outstretched right arm by the wrist and pulled her farther towards me before I spun her around and bent her arm against her back so that her hand nearly touched the back of her head. Clarisse had just enough time to grit her teeth in order to not scream in pain before I bent her forward so that her head was parallel with the ground. I then literally kicked her ass and sent her crashing into the ground in front of her three friends. Said girls had narrowed eyes while Clarisse quickly stood up and turned around shooting me a glare.

I narrowed my own eyes as I said "I hate people like you, always thinking that their strength gives them the right to push others around. Now I'm only going to give you all one chance to leave before I make the rest of your day absolutely miserable. So, Back Off!"

Clarisse growled and said "Get him!"

The four girls all rushed towards me with Clarisse staying in the lead. As soon as she was in arm's reach, she threw a right punch which I swatted away before slamming my fist into her solar plexus causing her eyes to go wide as she stumbled. I kicked her legs out from underneath her and slammed an elbow into her back while she was on her way down for good measure. I then ducked under a wide swung punch from the next girl before I shot back up with an uppercut to her chin. As the girl stumbled back I round house kicked her in the ribs sending her into one of her friends causing both to fall to the ground before I used the momentum of the kick to spin on my left ankle in a full circle and came out with a vicious backhand that sent the last girl flying to the side a few feet before falling heavily on her side.

Smirking at the girls who were shakily getting back to their feet, I said "Are you girls sure that Ares is your dad? You sure don't look like the children of a war god. I mean hell, even a fan girl could fight better than you four."

All four girls were now on their feet with absolute fury on their faces which only caused me to smirk more at them losing their cool. It would be all that easier to beat them now. Clarisse let out a roar of anger as she pulled a dagger out of the waistline of her jeans and rushed at me with her three friends following suit with daggers of their own. As they did, my smirk turned evil as I shot my right arm out to a nearby cinderblock building that I instinctively knew was the restrooms for the cabins.

There was a loud gurgling sound before water burst through the doors to the restroom and surged upwards as it came towards us forming into the shape of an eastern dragon as it stopped ten feet over my head. The four girls skidded to a stop with wide eyes as I grinned and said "You girls smell like you could use a good shower."

The imitation of the Water Dragon jutsu opened its mouth and let out a silent roar before it launched itself at the girls and slammed into them. While the attack wasn't as strong as an actual water dragon, it slammed into them with enough force to throw the girls halfway across the commons area. The nine year old girl by the fire was staring at the sight as the four bigger girls were trying to get to their feet. I blazed through hand signs and shouted "Hey girls! How about a blow dry? Wind Style: Gale Force Jutsu!" I thrust both of my arms forward and a massive blast of wind shot out of my hands and slammed into the girls throwing them the rest of the way across the commons before they hit the ground and rolled until they slammed into cabin number six.

Campers began to file out of the cabins as they heard and saw the commotion. Across the commons I saw Clarisse glaring at me and I read her lips as she said to her friends "That guy is so dead on Friday night." I saw her three friends nod. I felt Annabeth's stare and turned around to see her looking at me with confusion. I couldn't blame her though since I had used both wind style and water manipulation in the so called 'fight'. And those two weren't known to mix well in this world.

I rose an eyebrow and said "I told you we do things differently where I come from."

Annabeth blinked and said "Okay, you're definitely on my team on Friday night."