A/N: Fellas, thanks for your reviews. They helped me a lot to promote myself in writing. Sorry for the late update, I was really busy last week (And I'll still be busy in the next 3 months. I'll be at UK then) due to my preparation for study in UK. Hence, I send to you my apologize and I hope you guys will forgive me.

I'd love to make a long chapter (around 3500 words or more) because I want something challenging (And I've read a chapter which had over 6000 words. So yeah, if he can write 6000, I have to write nearly 4000 words for each chapter)

Oh, and this is my new target: 25 reviews (7 more to go) with at least 2 on this chapter. The 25th review will get a shoutout and the owner will be given my thank. Can you guys do it? Please :)

Chapter VII

Sophia's POV

The lunch I had at Camp Half-blood was awesome. But it made me felt a little uneasy after. The only way for me to 'relax' was to get a good nap, which I'd need a bed to do that. But my 'awesome' grandpa had already decorated it with a blue cloth (A/N: What word do you guys use to refer the cloth used to cover the mattress?) which had a pattern of owl on it. And he left me a note! Argh. Sometimes, I couldn't understand my family. Just answer this. Do you understand your relatives exactly? No faults? The answer is no obviously. Who knows what's in their heads?

But what choice did I have other than sleeping on that bed? I had to ask my dad about this, after all, he's a son of Poseidon.

The bed was extremely comfortable, just like water. Oh, and did I tell you guys that I have the amazing power of controlling water? Yeah, it's not as good as Dad or Poseidon, but it's still good. I can shape water in any forms or any shape I like. Then I found out that if I let water somewhere between liquid and air form (A/N: Is this correct? There are 3 states of water: solid like ice, liquid like drinking water and air like water in the air) the water itself can become a really cozy bed. I haven't told Dad about this, let him figure for a while more. It's fun seeing Mom yelling at him. Really. Don't tell me I'm childish, because I'll make you eat grill meat for that (What? Eating grill meat makes me gain more weight, which really sucks)

But there was 1 question remained: who made this bed for me? The beds of Sarah and Mike the Mickey was made of feather, I can assure about that. Dan had a military-style bed while it was, well, normal bed for the rest of the Cabin (look like that some one doesn't want their children get to much special attention).

So, I just lay on my bed and took a nap. It was just a short, dreamless nap, which Dad and Mom always dreamt of for a while after… you know, after being 'there'. When I was still enjoying my nap, I felt some one nudged me. He said (Oh, I can tell that person's gender by hearing his/her voice. And trust me, I haven't been wrong). His voice was strong: 'Sophia, wake up. It's time for training now'. My first reaction was something like this:

'C'mon. Leave me sleeping for a few more minutes'

'No, Sophie. It's 2.30 now. You must wake up. NOW!'

'Mike! I want to sleep'

'No! You are not allowed to sleep! You must wake up. It's training time now. Because you are the newbie so you must train today. Wake up now!'

Oh, this guy was really a pain in my butt. I wanted to sleep a little more and I wasn't allowed to do so? What's wrong with that? Sleeping can make girl more beautiful (or at least, that's what Auntie Piper tells me every time she drop out from Camp Jupiter. And as you can tell, she sleeps pretty much, nearly 10 hours every day). If we are more beautiful, boys will give us more attention, which makes us feel good. And frankly, this is the part I don't understand. I have asked my mom, Aunt Piper and Hazel, I have even asked Aunt Drew (even though World War 3 may be created if Aunt Pipes knows about this). And they had the same answer (with a smirk): 'You'll know when you grow up'. Adults

So, back to present. Why should I abandon my sleep to train? Oh, right. I'm a legacy, I should be training by now. Life sucks, huh? But I decided to stay in bed. Or, I should say I stay in bed until Mike the Mickey pulled out my blanket (hey, didn't he know politeness? What if I was NAKEDDDD? He would be so screw up then) and dragged me out of the Cabin. So, that's when all Hades, or crap, if you are mortals, breaks loose.

After being blind by sudden sunshine for a few seconds, I recognized the feature of the Camp. When I regain my eyesight, I knew I was on my way to the arena then, if you can say being dragged is 'on the way'. The arena has already filled with a few groups. They were all members of the Half-blood Camp, most of them had stayed in the Camp for at least 2 or 3 years. I knew it because they were fighting in duel and performing advanced skills which wouldn't be taught until campers reached year 2 or so.

The arena, the NEW arena (Mom pulled the old one down to rebuild the Camp as many campers wish) was quite similar to the Coliseum of the Roman. And it was identical to the one you can see whenever you visit Rome, apart from the fact that the Coliseum in Camp Half-blood was new, in one piece and not destroyed (not yet). I actually see some purple T-shirt in the arena. There was no doubt that T-shirt came from Camp Jupiter. People from both camps had been in 'exchange program' for quite a while now (and this program was promoted even more when Uncle Jason planned to propose Aunt Piper. Boys).

And that person from Camp Jupiter was really good. He, or she, was standing against 4 Camp Half-blood campers, and it looked like that Roman was far from sweating. I was lost myself in that performance, the performance of dodging, slashing and moving. Man, was that a boy? A boy with brown hair?

I forgot that Mike the Mickey was still walking with me. He spoke up:

'That's Jacob Grace. I believe you know who he is'

'Yes, son of Jason and Piper, grandchild of Lord Jupiter, who is called Zeus here, and Lady Venus, who is called Aphrodite here, on Greek soil. But I know his sister better. Julia Grace. Actually, I go to the same school with her'

'No doubt about that. Jacob has defeated 3 men already. He seems to be a great swordsman. Some one has even compared him with your Dad. Wonder why'

'Well, if I'm correct, they are both as crazy as hell, loyal is put on the top of every thing. Last but not least, they are quite… dumb. They wouldn't recognize any signal from girls'

Mike giggled. Obviously he was satisfied with my answer for some reason. He continued:

'You are correct. I think your Grandma blessed you when you were born. Sarah has tried to impressed him for a while now. But he, well, just doesn't care. I'd love to smash him, but he uses sword much better than I do. So, I won't test my luck'

'Let me talk to him. Who knows, I'm his cousin'

'For the record, every one in this camp is other's relative. The Olympians and minor gods? They were pretty busy'

A thunder blew through the sky after that. Zeus was mad, the last time some one called him 'slut' (or any equal words), it didn't turn out great for people. And if it wasn't his son (long story), Jason would have to live as an eagle for the rest of his life. Mike mumbled something like 'My bad. My apology'

The fight in the arena was, well, over. Jake of Jacob (hey, don't look at me like that. I like making names for people. And man whose name has one sound seems friendlier) brought the last men standing – a camper from Ares Cabin – down to the ground in people's awe. Jake was looking, well, good (if you can say a sweating boy is good-looking). He just wore simple stuff: a purple T-shirt inside a Roman armor with a pair of black trousers. That's why he won: he only wore light clothes when his opponents wore heavy armors and used heavy weapons (by the way, who allowed them to use axes? Axes are much heavier than swords. Why did those campers use axes anyway?)

Mike led me to the stand of the arena. There were over 1000 seats in the Coliseum and only 50 were taken. We decided to take the front row to sit down for a while. No one paid attention to two newcomers who took the front row at once because there were hundreds of seats available at that time. My eyes returned to the arena. Defeated campers were being moved away on stretchers to the medic room (A/N: Is there any specific name for this room or Rick hasn't mentioned it?)

Jacob was taking his helmet off. And I was speechless.

The last time I saw him was nearly one year ago. He was still a 14-year-old kid then. But one year had passed, and he had grew up.

He had been more handsome than he used to be. And I mean it.

His blond hair was combed in a formal way, like the way which Leonardo DiCaprio used to have his famous hairstyle. There was no doubt that he got this from his father – Jason Grace.

His eyes were colorful. It was hard to determine what their color was, but I think his eyes were brown. Warm brown eyes which can drown girls in it.

His muscules were even shown better. Was he trying to impress some one here? No. His eyes just scanned the entire stand and paid more attention to places where girls were sitting. Damn, show off. He hadn't changed a bit. He was just like his dad, sometimes, but 100 times worse. No, 1000 time worse. But I couldn't help staring at him like other girls in the stand.

Now, I could here giggled and shrieked. And it was coming from Aphrodite area. No wonder. They had been behaved like that for eons. Why should I be surprised? Well, may be because Anut Piper hadn't been like that, not all the time. But in short, I wasn't surprise.

And I wasn't surprised to see some boys in the area sharpening their daggers and swords. Obviously, the girls they like had shown some… feeling toward Jacob. He was such a womanizer. But with his sister, he was put in line, for a while only. He was always able to flirt a few girls in the same time (and when those girls found out, he couldn't come home in one piece without girls chasing his arse), which made his dad gone mad because the Graces should put faithfulness above any else (that's what they did years ago, on a quest to Europe to kick Dirt Face, I've been wondered what this monster was).

Mike, who was sitting next to me for the last 5 minutes and just keep silent, spoke up finally:

'Well, if you allow me, I'll go there and challenge him. It'd be a pleasure to see him fail'

'Why?'

'I just hate him. OK?'

'I don't but it. There's must be something else, isn't it? Your sister stay in the same Cabin as yours so you must have heard if she mumbled while sleeping. My money is on the fact that she had, or has, a crush on this Jacob guy. And that's the best scenario. The worst one is, well, the girl you like likes him'

With that, he shot me a glare. A glare which meant something like this 'One more word and I'll personally cut your toungue and throw it to monster' A dangerous boy isn't he. And this Mickey was quite good-looking, apart from the fact that he was quite skinny, but he had big leg. May be's a runner. Camp Half-blood started using campers as runners to deliver news (when Lady Iris or Fleecy was too busy), or, as Chiron likes to put it, give campers a chance to increase their strength. And why I knew he has big legs? He was wearing short you idiots! It was freaking hot here (A/N: Is this hot during the summer at Eastern US region? I'm suck at Geography and I haven't been to US, even once) so every one was wearing shorts and T-shirts, execpt for fighters, who were asked to wear trousers or pants. Who made them do that in this 25-Celcius-degree weather? (A/N: Again, I'm suck at US Geography so I don't know it it can be 25C there)

Mickey, after shooting me with dagger glares, said:

'Well, do you want to begin with sword fighting? Your dad was awesome at this. I hope you inherit some of his skills. Cuz I really want our Cabin wins Capture the Flag this time. Most of our members was knocked down, thanks to the politeness of Ares campers and our terrible skill in CQC'

'CQC?'

'Close quarter combat. Basically, it's a matter of fighting in demigods' style. Swords, fists and bows. Romans have just started using guns, but it'll take them a while before they are fully adapt to that weapon. So, are you ready? I can't wait using a sword'

And that's the way my training began. It started in Roman style, not Greek. I can sure about that. Mickey attacked furiously in high speed, which made a lot of scratch on my arms. I was just a newbie! How can I fight well with swords? It took my dad a rough time in a quest to fight well (If you can define 'talking with Ares by swords' is fighting well) with sword.

Damn, Mickey was crazy about training. Sure, tough job needs tough men (A/N: I got this from a show on NatGeo. OK?) but is it necessary to be THIS tough? My arms were covered in cuts and bruises. Some bumps were on my legs. Not to I was sweating and panting. I had never been that tired since I was chased around the school by a bunch of monsters (long story), but this time, I was even more tired.

And have I told you that the training had been on for only 30 minutes? There was still 30 more minutes to survive and I could be goddamn sure that Mickey was still in good shape because he hasn't sweat much. And he wasn't panting either.

This guy Mike was just like Captain Sobel in Band of brothers (This was a great series of movie you guys, I love the story of Major Winters). Damn, he must had been hated by many campers of Cabin L. He was rough and tough, I hope he'd have the right tactic for the game tonight. If he didn't, he'd have to face me about that.

Back to the present, Mike was staring at me and of course, scowled. Finally, after nearly the whole minute of silence, he said:

'Well, that's for today. Look like you got some of your dad's fighting skill. But it's not good enough, or you haven't found out about it. Either way, you are just not good enough. You have to train harder, much harder Soaf'

'Soaf?'

'Yes. Soaf, short of Sophia. And I like the Soap guy from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. He's a real bastard, a good one'

'And you must be Captain Fobol. A friend of Captain Sobel in Band of brothers. You are as mean as him'

He just shot me daggers with that. Obviously, he had watched the movie. But after all, Sobel's training proram had forged the Company Easy into one hell of Airborne Company. They survied the D-Day, Market Garden, the Battle at Bastongue and they occupied Austria. And they still hated Sobel, even they had won the war. Hope he'd take that as a compliment. He said:

'Well. If you think me as a friend of Captain Sobel, run, now. You have to run 10 miles in the next 30 minutes in order to complete the training today. Try not to fall over, we have game tonight. Don't think about cheating, I have nymphs as friends. And don't run into The Forest. Your track is 100 laps around this arena'

And he just left after that. What a boy! He doesn't know how to take care of his men, does he? Damn, but I had to run then. What choice did I have left?

Of course, running 100 laps around the arena after a sword training with your head counsellor wasn't a piece of cake. I almost collasped on myself after finish the 86th lap. Damn, was Mike the Mickey trying to kill me? Possible. Captain Sobel kicked some butts in his training program, remember that. Then, on my 87th lap, a nymph appeared on the stand, running toward me. She was holding a bottle then.

When she came near me, she asked:

'You are Sophia Tratie Jackson, right?'

'Yes, the one and the only'

'Mike asked me to give you this. It's nectar. He said that he forgot to tell you to bring this along. He insited on you to drink this. Now, can you drink this? It'll help you to recover some of your strength. Trust me'

So, I just did what she asked me to do. I took the bottle and took a sip. No more than one sip. If I drank more, I'd burnt to ash. I'd like more but I knew it was not wise. At least the nectar tasted wonderful. I almost thought that it was the chocolate milk Mom usually made for me (of course, I have to make sure that Dad wouldn't steal any from me. Why he has to be THAT childish?)

The nectar was good, really good. I felt a new wave of energy swept through my body, helping me to finish the last 13 laps easily. But then, after finishing, I was tired, really tired. Look like that nectar was just a short-term energy boost. Damn, I must think the way to improve it. Changing it into a long-term food and drink would be better than leaving gods' food being short-term equipment. Hope ambrosia (A/N: Do I spell correctly?) is better than this.

I glanced at my watch, 4.00PM. Dammit! I had been training non-stop for over an hour. Just my luck, right?

The nymph, who was standing in the arena for the last 10 minutes, gestured me to the bathrooms' direction and said:

'Err, I think you should take a shower. There is still hot water, plenty of them. Chiron listed the remaining part of your afternoon as 'free activity', which means you can do almost anything you want, as long as it isn't dangerous or stupid, or both. So, yeah, take a shower first, then enjoy your day. I gotta go, my dad probaly started finding me a few minutes ago'

'Your dad?'

'Yes. My dad. I think you know him, Coach Hedge. He must be yelling 'DIE!' now, so… I think I should leave. See ya!'

And she disappeared in green smoke. Yeah typical family of Coach Hedge. I recognize that name from my parents' stories. Apparently, he was a bit psycho. At least he married with Mellie – a nice aura.

With that thought, I moved back to Cabin L to took some of my clothes and headed to bathroom. The water there was really nice, it helped me to calm down after the training. Well, it must help me, I'm a descendant of Lord Poseidon anyway. Even though my sense at sea isn't as good as my dad's, or water doesn't heal me miraculously, it still eases me down, helps me to stand against stresses and depresses of life

I stayed in the bathroom for quite long. When I got out, it was already 4.45PM. The dinner would be served at 6.00 so I have an hour only to do what I like. Training was out of question because I have just get the hell out of there. Going back there soon wasn't on the top of my list. So, I just moved back to my Cabin and decided to play video games with Bob. He was quite a nice boy actually. Well, in fact, he was the one who offered me to play video games with him when I got through the door. Which game it was followed my choice. Well, at least, he was much nicer than Mickey.

I chose Battlefield 6: Hell in Asia (A/N: sorry to any Asians reading my story, but I'm Asian too. Battlefield 6 is not yet to be made so just imagine what it's about. OK?) because I was rock at it. So, we just played it. Of course, we had to play on to two different machines. How crazy would it be when dividing monitor into two parts? Eyes would be crazy then.

But anyway, I must say that Bob is a great player. He supported me a lot in the game. If he wasn't there, my head would had been blown off a few times (a dozen times, may be) and blasted away by Abraham Tanks at least ten times more. So yeah, I owed him quite much. I think I'd repay him by helping his arse in the game tonight. I really hope that both he and I would get the mission of guarding the flag because if not, I wouldn't be able to keep him in one piece.

So, yeah. I was lost in my thoughts, but mostly the game, when I heard the horn. It was the signal for dinner. Zeus, I couldn't believe that I had been playing video game non-stop for over an hour. Mom will kill me when she finds out. Or I should say, IF she finds out. Bob turned both the machine off and said:

'C'mon. Let's go to the Dinning Hall. Mike will piss off if we don't get there on time. And once he is mad, he'll put us in the assault team with the order to capture our opponemts' flags. Trust me, it won't be good for any of us'

Well, what choice did I have? I guessed I had to followed Bob to the Hall then. Hopefully, I would have sushi that night. I love sushi, it's the food which I like the second (after spaghetti). Oh, and if we had Capture the Flag tonight, when would I receive my box from Hermes? I had to ask Chiron now. And, what can that gift be? A sword with the name κατακλυσμός (Flood) like Dad's Riptide, a knife like Mom's, a belt like Uncle Leo's (by the way, what the hell was he doing then?) or why not, a bow of my own? Man, I couldn't wait any longer. Chiron, here I came.

A/N: So, that's my story (over 4000 words. I'm rock!). Enjoy my friends and comrades! :) And, please, read and review