Percy's POV (One month later)
You know what I hate most about myself? Being a softie. I can't really stand up for myself against innocent forces, such as the Huntresses. Now, I can easily fight off an army of Kronos's army, but little, immortal girls are something I cannot fight against or show any backbone to. Even when I thought I was going to break down on them and go all out with some "accidental flooding" to their camp, Thalia advised me to stay calm, let them do their thing, and deal with it while I'm here.
Before I came here, Zeus told me to not use any of my godly powers around Artemis, mostly with fear that I would try and do something to her out of anger, which I've thought about a few times but kept my cool. But who has the right mind to attack her? That's practically begging for death.
Today, I decided to use some water techniques anyways to do the laundry. It's a lot easier to just swirl clothes around in a large bucket of water than scrubbing them by hand. After that, I was on my way to the archery fields but made the mistake of taking a short cut and walking upon a group of huntresses cleansing a group of wild stags. I recognized them, Elisabeth, Alex, and Diana. Elisabeth was the first to spot me as a devilish smirk appeared on her face. Not good.
She whistled, and next thing I knew the beautiful, majestic animals that were happily grazing on grass only moments ago, stampeded right at me. I tried to lose them but they just kept following me with their large antlers pointed at my already injured backside. Thankfully, I ran pretty fast and found myself running a long distance but they were still on my heels. I clawed my way up a tree and hid there while they thought I was still running. With a small chuckle, I leaned back against the tree and tried to catch my breath.
Right when I thought all was quiet and peaceful some small, furry animal jumped on my face and clawed me like a crazy demon from Hades. I fell out of the tree and fell flat on my stomach as I pulled the creature off of me. It turned out to be a squirrel, a very, very angry squirrel. It fidgeted around like it was having a seizure, so I let it go but not without shooting him with a complimentary, large water ball.
My face was burning a little and my legs were kind of tired so I made it to the archery fields the best that I could with small scratch marks on my face, twigs in my hair, and ripped up shorts with a dirty, white t-shirt. Artemis was standing there still with her arms crossed over her chest and foot tapping. She turned around to look at me and opened her mouth to speak. Instead of the lecture about "being punctual" that I was expecting, she burst into laughter. After letting it all out and taking a few deep breaths, she looked me up and down while shaking her head.
"Tsk, tsk. It's not so hard to get here without tripping over yourself you know that right?" Now, I could've ratted out the girls but I wanted to get on their good side, if that was even possible, so it wouldn't help to let their leader know about it.
"Mother nature just hates me. Did you know that squirrels are extremely territorial, and that stags charge like buffalo?" She was very amused by the look on her face
"Of course I did. Basic nature survival skills, will I have to teach you those too?"
"Please do." She nodded and ushered me on for some more, monotonous training.
If I thought yesterday was tough, today was even worse. It seems like the more I do this, the more easily I get tired. I keep hurting animals… and myself. Atleast I learned how to aim an arrow and shoot it almost the right distance to the target.
I was probably more worn out than yesterday because I got mauled by a rabid squirrel and chased by a herd of wild stags. Twice. Yeah, unfortunately they found me in the woods while I was looking for a lost arrow then decided to run after me until I reached Artemis who commanded them to stop. My hero.
Thalia was kind enough to get some ambrosia and nectar for me which helped a lot since I didn't have to limit the amount I took anymore. In the boredom of the moment, I decided to go out for some hiking.
"You sure you don't want me to accompany you? It seems that you get into trouble very often." Artemis offered. It was obvious that the hunt wouldn't appreciate me spending more quality time than I already do with their beloved commander so I shook my head.
"I can handle myself for a while out here. Using water to scare off some dangerous animals works you know?" With that, I was off before she could say anything more about the subject. Boy was I wrong when I said I could handle it.
Exploring the wilderness is fun and all, but it's better to do in the morning where you can see in front of you and not trip over tree roots constantly. Here's another hint, go with a buddy, specifically one that has skills outdoors because you might just get too curious then walk into, oh I don't know, a cave with a sleeping bear and bats that wake up when you scream because you hit your foot on a rock. Running away from a bear is just as fun as running from wild stags and what can I say about bats besides the fact that they make your heart beat one hundred times faster due to fear.
I couldn't find my way back to camp, but Thalia eventually came to my rescue and helped me get back. When she saw how wrecked I was she went nuts because I actually thought it was possible for me to handle myself.
My frustration only smoldered and a scowl plastered my face. Now normally, I'm a very calm, relaxed, laid-back, and live-for-the-moment guy but I was starting to think I've had enough of this. To get to my tent, I had to walk past Artemis and the girls which I was hesitant about. Artemis let out a small gasp when she saw me.
"Oh my gods, what have you done to yourself Percy?" She asked with genuine worry in her voice. Instead of saying something, I ran a hand through my hair and sighed, doing my best to ignore the huntress's rude comments about what happened.
"He probably got assaulted by the animals that we ordered to attack him. If only we could catch it on tape. " Snickered one of the girls, referring to the whole Hunt. When I heard that, my anger flared and I snapped.
"Alright here's what happened. You all happened. I'm sick of your pranks, your cruelty, and most of all, your hatred for men and me. I've had it with all of this! If you don't like men so much, I feel the same way about women! You're the ones that can't be trusted! I would know since my girlfriend left me without an explanation!" I breathed a few steamy, angry breaths to calm down as silence enveloped the tense atmosphere. "Tomorrow morning, I'm out of here and I don't give a crap what happens after that. No one has to suffer this."
(A/N: Hope you enjoyed. It's about time Percy showed some guts. By the way, sorry that I forgot to add some of Percy's more god-like qualities. It slipped my mind; I just got too lazy to mention them.)