So, I don't own PJO or MLP and have you noticed that most of my chapters end with introductions?

Chapter 8

All four of us headed into the armory. On the outside, it looked like an old gardening shed. The armory was beautiful in a cruel way. There were trophies on the wall and weapons of every sort littering the floor. Immediately, something caught my eye. It was a set of throwing knives. I picked one up and it felt like it was almost made for me. The knife felt perfect. I wanted to test it out.

"Stand back," I said. They all backed off. I aimed for the crack in the wall that I shouldn't have been able to see but did. When I threw the knife it felt natural. It embedded itself into the wall. I could barely see the hilt of the knife. I tried to pull it out of the wall but couldn't.

"Can I have some help?" I asked because that thing wasn't coming out anytime soon.

"Sure..." Nico replied reluctantly. "How in Hades did you get this knife in so... far!" On far, he pulled out the knife and stumbled back. "We still need something for you two to use during sword fighting though. How about this one for you Shannon?" He handed her a bronze short sword. She said the name etched into it was desire. That it was the name of her step-mom, Psyche. I studied the knives closer. There was an engraving on it.

"Kraken," I whispered. The blades turned into a charm bracelet. All the knives were charms. One charm was longer, and shaped differently than the rest. It looked like a sword. I studied it and thought of it in the original form. Somehow, I was holding a 3 foot long sword. Nico gingerly plucked it out of my hands and I protested, the weapon felt so right. He swung it in an arc and took a long look at it.

"Is this some kind of joke?" He asked after a long silence. "I mean seriously, Perseus, Andromeda, and you're drawn to a sword and knife set called Kraken? Next thing I know, you're gonna have a shield called medusa or something." The way he said it made me giggle. Yes, in the myths, Perseus killed medusa to rescue the beautiful princess Andromeda from being eaten by the Kraken, but this was totally different, right?

We just laughed. "Nico, its really creepy, but the weapons feel natural. So, will you give me back my sword, or do I have to chase you for it?" This caused a smile to play across his face. Piper gasped.

"Nico? Is that you or has an eildon or something taken over you again? As long as I have known you, I have never seen any emotion in your face but anger or calm." She turned to me, "Do you realize how long its taken me to actually try to get him to smile, even charmspeak won't work." I laughed again.

"That's really hard to believe. I can get a smile out of him every time," I responded.

Shannon and Piper exchanged long looks before saying together, "You guys really like each other!" Shannon continued, "I can feel the amount of affection rise whenever I'm around one of you two. Percy and Annabeth are different, they are more like, the perfect couple. They're always changing. You two, have, I guess, power, in your affection." From the expression on her face, she was completely serious, but I couldn't help but laugh. It sounded so improbable.

Percy burst in the door, "Finally, I found you all. Do you two want a sword fighting lesson or not?" We quickly followed Percy out the door. Nico came with us while Piper headed back to her cabin, probably to tell every one about "Andrico," whatever that is. Percy continued, "I put you two in with the Hermes and Hades cabins. I hope thats ok with you. Shannon, I think you can work with Travis, Andy, I'll work with you. By the way, Clarisse likes to practice about now, so watch where you go. Nico, you'll keep working on training Britt, alright?" Nico let out a little whimper that I thought was cute.

"But, so many colors! All that girl wants to do is play with 'Rainbowdash and Pinkie Pie.' Please don't torture me again. Last time," he shuddered, "I had to be Princess Luna, or whatever the heck you want to call it. Connor and Travis blackmailed me with a video of it." He made me giggle. Wow, Nico can make me laugh a lot. I need to work on that.

"Man up Nico, maybe this time she'll let you be Twilight Sprinkle, or was it Twilight Sparkle." I quickly explained to Percy that MLP was a running joke in my old school. Everyone used to joke around with it. I looked it up on wiki, but I never watched the show. When we entered the Arena, everything fell silent. Percy gestured for us to hang out with the kids who looked like they were going to pick my pocket.

Percy started the lesson, "Ok, we are going to pair up. I've already assigned you partners. Go ahead and start sparring. Travis and Shannon, if you need a little help, don't hesitate to ask. Oh, and Britt, I'm outlawing My Little Pony in the Arena."

I could have sworn I heard a small, "YES!" come from Nico, and the little girl who I assumed was Britt, just glared at him. The comment was so bizarre, I let out a small giggle, as did pretty much everyone else but Britt. Before I headed to Precy, Britt walked up to me.

"Hi, my name is Britt," she seemed innocent enough, well as innocent as a 6 year old could be who looks like she wants to gut you.

"I'm Andy." I responded. She wrinkled her nose.

"Isn't that a boy's name? Anyways, you like Nico, right?" I nodded. I didn't feel the need to tell her that he was my boyfriend just yet, I mean she was six. "Well, he's mine, so if you know whats good for you, back off. I won't stop to think about who I need to get rid of to get him to be mine." She was hilarious. Britt seemed so serious, it was almost comical.

I responded, I didn't like her attitude, "Well, sweetie," she wrinkled her nose again, "On the contrary, Nico is mine and has been for 3 months. Watch yourself, I don't have a lot of patience." I ruffled her hair and smiled. She had a pouty look on her face that made me want to puke. Percy motioned me to head over and I got my sword ready.

"On 3," Percy counted, "1... 2... 3..." I readied myself for his attack. He swung his sword to my left and I blocked. As he was bringing his blade back I lunged, careful to not let him get a good shot of my hilt, I remembered how the disarming technique was the first move he learned. He pressed me harder and I could barely think to defend myself. I let my instincts take over. Suddenly, I was on the offensive. After a little while, Percy changed tactics. He started stabbing instead of swiping, and he never slashed, just lunged. I had to switch my way of defending myself. In a way, it was easier, but at the same time, it was harder. I was aware of everything. The way Percy seemed to switch to his old style, but stayed with the current one. I switched my style too. This seemed more foreign, but it definitely worked. I was the one slashing and swiping now. I was considerably faster and lighter on my feet than Percy, so I held my ground. I felt like I had been fighting for only minutes, when Percy held up his hands and yelled, "Draw." I looked around. All the groups had stopped to watch. I felt a little hot and sweaty, and Percy looked about the same, but I wondered why everyone was staring at me.

"How in Hades did you do that?" Britt asked. The six year old had quite a mouth. I must have looked confused.

Nico walked up to me, "I think Percy was taking it a little easy on you. He's scared to hurt you, so he isn't putting all his strength into the fight. If he did you'd probably be in the infirmary. So, why don't we spar. No powers, but we can use whatever weapons we want as long as we don't kill each other. I have to use a different sword or else your very essence would be absorbed, but I have a feeling this may be a fair match." I smiled and nodded.

Percy strided over and yelled, "On 3, 1... 2..." Nico was crouched low, he seemed to almost fade into the shadows, I realized he was not a good enemy to have, "3!" Percy yelled. Our swords collided and mine spun out of my hand due to the shear force of Nico's blow. I immediately thought of the knives and one appeared in each hand. I let my instincts take over again and everything was a blur. I came back to my senses when Nico was up against the wall by the entrance to the Arena and I only had one knife in my hand, and it was up to his throat. The other was impaled in the wall near his head. Nico laughed dryly. I noticed his sword about 10 feet away, laying on the ground.

"Ok, you fight just as well as Percy does, but you did pin me up against the wall faster." I pulled the knife out of the wall and took my hand away from his throat. He was laughing almost, I could see it in his eyes.

I was mad. He didn't fight me for real. "Until next time, Di Angelo," I said that because I remembered a girl in our class who always hit on Nico. Her name was Megan and she was the snottiest, brattiest girl on the earth. I was Nico's friend long before we started going out. Megan was actually the reason we got together in the first place. She always would stand outside our homeroom and say hi to Nico in this disgustingly flirty way and I was getting sick of it. One day, she asked Nico out and he didn't know exactly how to react. He had told me plenty of times that he wished she would leave him alone, but he never told her. When she asked him out, I could see him closing up and I decided to do something about it. I grabbed his hand and said, 'Sorry, he's busy. Also, why would you even ask my boyfriend out with me standing right here?' She turned red and stalked down the hall after saying, 'Until next time Di Angelo, I will have you'. A couple minutes after she left, Nico asked, 'What was that for?' I shrugged. 'You were standing there like an idiot.' He smiled widely. That was the first time I had ever seen him smile. 'Did you mean it?' he asked. I thought for a second before answering, 'Well, do you want her off your case?' I was vaguely aware of the fact that we were still holding hands. My head was flooded with the memory.

"Alright, class is over," Percy yelled. "I want to see Travis, Nico, Shannon, and Andromeda before you head out." I headed over.

Percy had us all sit down on the bleachers (I always imagined the arena with bleachers). "This is about the quest." There was silence. "Eros spoke with me last night. Travis is here because he is the cabin leader for Hermes. Apparently, a new camper is supposed to come this after noon. The camper's name is Lisa Davis. She is a daughter of Hermes and possesses a unique skill. She can, kind of, sniff out, demigods. Your quest is to begin tomorrow. This girl has already been trained by the gods themselves. She has known she is a demigod her entire life." I snuck a look at Nico's face. He wasn't showing any emotion.

"Why does Lisa Davis sound familiar?" Shannon and I wondered out loud together. We answered our own questions, "Foster Home!" Shannon and I stared at each other in amazement. I wondered how she knew Lisa.

"Lisa was my best friend when I was in the 'Sunshine Hill Foster Home for Troubled Children'," she said in a really weird falsetto because she was a girl.

"Are we talking about the same foster home, 'cus that place was creepy! Mrs. Carr had me-" Shannon cut me off.

"Scrub the toilets with your toothbrush or," she shuddered, "the time out closet?" I gave a half hearted smile.

"Normally, both. I ran away after a month of living there. Lisa had been there for 5 years. I never understood how she could stand it there. She said she went to a special school. Now I get what she meant." Shannon must have gone there too.

"It was the last place I was. Oh gods, the police must be looking for me." She did a face palm, "The only reason Mrs. Carr didn't send me back to the orphanage was because I was making money for her. Holy Hera! What am I gonna do?" Travis put his arm around her and we both gave him a death glare. He pulled his arm back quickly.

"So, lets go up to the, Oh My Gods! She's here." Shannon and I ran up to the hill really fast.

When Lisa saw us, she gave a really wide grin and ran up to hug us. "Thank the gods! I thought you two were dead. Shannon, you look so different, like, absolutely gorgeous! Andy! You... You're..." I decided to finish Lisa's sentence.

"So breathtakingly beautiful you are speechless?" I struck a pose. When we were kids, I would joke around with her and pretend we were princesses. She laughed. She saw Travis, Percy, and Nico and waved.

"Can I say hi to my brother?" She headed down into the valley and we followed. When we reached the boys, she gave Travis a big hug and said, "Wassup big bro?!"

"Nuttin' much lil' sis!" They had obviously met before.

When she pulled back from the hug, her eyes narrowed, like she wanted to kill either Percy or Nico. She quickly hid her discomfort, and I realized if she had met Travis, she probably met Percy. Percy walked away and Lisa turned to Nico.

She held out her hand, "Lisa Davis, daughter of Hermes. Care to tell me what your name is 'Ghost King'?" Nico paled a little, which was almost impossible. "Relax, I don't kill someone before I learn who they are and how they treat my friends."

He shook her hand, "Nico, Nico Di Angelo."