Chapter 7: Training
Ariana's P.O.V
I took out my flute and blew it into a bow and arrow. The Hunters of Artemis had come and Thalia wanted to train me. After that training, Annabeth would train me to be better with my dagger. Then, I would help Tori with her small knife. I walked inside the arena where Thalia had told me to meet her for my training.
"Hello? Thalia?" I asked looking around. It was empty. Then all of a sudden, an arrow whizzed past me almost getting my ear. I was certain that was Thalia. She has a perfect arrow mark like me but I was sure she did that on purpose to not kill me; I quickly put on my armor and aimed my arrow where the arrow had appeared and shot it. There was a small shriek and then Thalia appeared. Her expression was pleased.
"You've gotten better," she grinned holding out her hand. I looked up at her and she laughed.
"No, it's not a trick," she laughed. I rolled my eyes and shook her hand.
"You have gotten more cautious though," she laughed again. I blinked and gave a small smile.
"You did do that on purpose though, since I didn't have my armor on," I said. She nodded.
"Man, do you know how much trouble I would be in if I actually killed you?" she laughed again. "All right, now we've gotta train, I say for an hour," she advised.
"I thought two hours?" I asked her confused. She rolled her eyes.
"I wanna spend time with my little brother too you know!" she said. I laughed. Thalia always spent time with her brother Jason.
"Okay, so first exercise, I suggest these," she said carrying out bullet boards.
"Bullet boards?" I asked her confused.
"Augh, no, I'll get them." She muttered and cursed under her breath and carried the bullet boards back and brought out the target boards. She cursed under her breath once more and brought out more target boards.
"Wait, why'd you bring out 10?" I asked her in confusion.
"Because," she said beaming. "I'm going to teach you how to attack your enemies at once with only 10 arrows, and right on the red mark. Well, not all at once but fast enough so they can't react."
"Ok… But that seems so insane!" I gasped.
"I've done it," she said crossing her arms.
"Okay…" I said slowly. Thalia grinned.
"Okay, so first you have to have your bow and arrow ready at all times. And, you have to make sure you know where all your enemies are. And right when you shoot the arrow, the first arrow must have something unique like a sparkle or a trick or something. Come on, let's do it slowly," she instructed. I nodded and shot my first arrow which went high up straight down, and then perfectly straight into the red mark. Thalia clapped.
"Good, now once they have that attention, when it goes up in the sky, get your arrows, like I told you before, have them ready, and shoot it quickly. Don't wait to see what happens whether you miss or not, just keep shooting." She said. I frowned. It seemed nearly impossible but I shot that arrow up in the sky, and quickly took out my other arrows and shot them at the targets as fast as I could.
"Good! Wow, you're a fast learner," she beamed. I nodded.
"Now you learned how to do it with ten enemies if they strike you," she said. I nodded, impressed.
"Oh, looks like my hour's up," she said looking at the time. "See you at dinner!" she called. I nodded. I walked back to Athena cabin and whisked it back to a flute. Then I turned it into my dagger. I walked out of the cabin and looked around looking for Annabeth. I spotted her near the Big House with Chiron.
"Annabeth, come on, you promised to help me with my dagger fighting." I told her.
"Oh yeah, okay wait for me in the arena. I have to talk to Percy about something." She said. I nodded and went for the arena. I put on my armor once again and cleaned my dagger. Annabeth came in. I looked at her.
"Well, what are you waiting for come on!" she called bringing out targets that Thalia had used. She saw the arrows in them.
"Thalia?" she asked raising an eyebrow. I nodded and she sighed plucking the arrows out. "Wow these are deep," she muttered. I grinned. I stood up and looked at Annabeth.
"So, what are you going to teach me today?" I asked her.
"Let's see," she said rubbing her chin. "Oh, I know. It's kind of hard to do but it's kind of like archery." She said finally getting an idea.
"But we're doing daggers," I said in confusion. She rolled her eyes.
"Just watch me." She said taking out her dagger. "So this is what we're going to do." She explained. She blew on her dagger and put it in her hand like she would stab something. Then she threw her dagger and it landed straightly on the red mark. I widened my eyes.
"Wow…" I said. She grinned and took out her dagger.
"The key goal is to blow on your dagger so it's sharp and aim it straightly. Not like you're throwing a ball or anything, elbow pointing on the ground and yeah." She explained. I nodded but frowned. I stood in the very back and blew on my dagger and then aimed it straightly with my elbow pointing on the ground. It landed on a white spot. Annabeth shook her head.
"Did you see what you did wrong? What you did wrong is that you had your elbow pointed on the ground, but it wasn't the right angle. It's supposed to be a 90 degree angle." She said showing me.
"Well, you certainly didn't tell me that," I scowled.
"I thought you'd figure it out yourself," she said. I rolled my eyes and took out my dagger. I went back, blew on it, and threw it elbow straight, and 90 degree angle. My pulse felt weird stopping all of a sudden but it wasn't bad. It landed on the red mark. Annabeth nodded.
"Not bad Ariana." She remarked. I nodded.
"Well, we're all done now, go get some rest. Tori's training with Percy of defensive moves." She frowned. "I better go check on them." She said half walking but mostly running to where they were training. I laughed. Annabeth was probably worried about Tori falling in love with Percy. I walked back to my cabin and turned it back into a flute. I went back out and I went to the stables to see my Pegasus Whitewing. I saw Jay training his Pegasus Thunder. My Pegasus Whitewing was completely white and had a silver mane and a silver tail. Jay's Pegasus Thunder was Black with a yellow-ish mane and tail. I petted Percy's Pegasus Blackjack.
"Hi Blackjack!" I called. He whinnied. Did you bring sugar cubes? He asked me.
"No, blackjack you know those aren't good for you," I told him. He snorted in disagreement. Jay laughed. I had the same ability like Percy of connecting with horses.
"Hi Thunder!" I called. Did you bring me some sugar cubes? He asked. I rolled my eyes.
"No Thunder!" I said. He snorted also. Ai Ai Ai! Give me an apple at least. He snorted.
"Toss me an apple," Jay called. I tossed him one and he caught it feeding it to Thunder.
"Hi Whitewing!" I called to my white horse. She whinnied in happiness. Hi! Can I please have some sugar cubes? She pleated. I rolled my eyes.
"Fine," I muttered grabbing sugar cubes and feeding it to her. Yum! She cheered. I rolled my eyes and brushed her mane. Tori came running to me.
"Where were you!" we were supposed to start training a minute ago!" she gasped.
"Oops! Sorry! Bye Whitewing!" I called running with Tori. Whitewing whinnied in pleasure. We ran to the arena.
"Ok, so get your gear on Vega," I clapped my hands.
"Someone looking for these?" a voice called dangling Tori's armor.
"Give it back Jade," I called. Jade appeared.
"Jade! Give it back!" Tori whined.
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and tossed her armor, Tori luckily catching it.
"Nico's going to show me how to Shadow Travel so whatever." She called leaving.
"She's going to hate Shadow Traveling," I laughed.
"Why?" Tori asked me.
"Because, Shadow Traveling takes a lot of energy, the more people, the more energy; wow, Nico's going to faint when he comes back," I laughed. Tori let out a small smile and took out her small knife. As I taught her the uses of her knife, I knew my role was getting dangerous and dangerous when I leave Camp Half-Blood.
Cat's P.O.V
I looked around for Miranda, our head counselor in Demeter Cabin.
"Hi Julia, do you know where Miranda is?" I asked her. She pointed where I saw a small figure growing fruits on trees and ran over.
"Miranda!" I called. She turned around.
"Oh hi Cat. Am I late?" she asked. I nodded. She slapped her forehead and groaned.
"Ugh. Let's practice here though." She said.
"Ok, so I'm going to teach you how to pop roots out to strangle your enemy." Miranda instructed. "First, you have to make sure that you have enough power like, you feel good, then you have to close your eyes, and keep concentrating on trees. Then, when you open your eyes, you'll probably see your enemy strangled." Miranda continued. I tried the same as her. As I opened my eyes, Miranda was gasping for breath and her cheeks turned red. I released her.
"Oops. Sorry Miranda." I said as she gasped for breath. She held up her hand to say that it was okay. I really hoped that I wouldn't die.