I don't own Percy Jackson, obviously, because if I did this story wouldn't exist. And I also don't own Disney, which should be even more obvious. Why do I have to write this again?
Chapter Four: To Be Acknowledged
The day of the capture-the-flag game had finally come. Campers strutted around in full plated armor, carrying weapons and practicing moves.
Percy made his way to the camp armory to pick up his own set of armor, and to retrieve the shield Beckendorf had promised. It was too bad that giving him the shield was the only thing his friend could do for him today, as the Hephaestus cabin had allied itself with the Ares cabin, along with the Apollo and Dionysus cabins.
The Hermes and Demeter cabins had allied with the Athena campers, and the Aphrodite cabin had declared itself exempt from the game, something that Percy heard was the usual with them.
As Percy looked around inside the building, someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned around only to be met with the giant mass of muscle that was his Hephaestus friend. Beckendorf was fully equipped in bronze armor, making him look even more ferocious than usual, though the image was ruined by the gleeful smile on his scowling face.
"Hey Beck," Percy greeted, "so, you have it?"
With an uncharacteristic giggle, Beckendorf revealed the shield he had been hiding behind his back. It was perfectly round, with a bold outline and a diamond design molded right in the center.
Taking it in his hands and turning it around, Percy saw a metal strap fitted next to the handle, which had a button he could press with his thumb. The shield was made completely out of celestial bronze, though the outline and diamond center were highly concentrated, therefore both features took a darker hue than the rest of the body. It looked about the size of his back, and when he put it on it fit snugly on his arm. Despite everything insinuating the contrary, it was surprisingly light, and Percy found he could freely move his arm without much effort.
"I couldn't make it shrink down into a watch or anything fancy since it would've taken too long, but I managed to finish the quick release strap you requested," Beckendorf said with a proud gleam in his eyes.
"Beck..." Percy trailed off, not knowing what to say. No one had ever wasted so much of their free time for him before. It might not have been the most advanced shield ever made, but to him it looked like it was forged by Hephaestus himself.
"Thanks, for everything," he finally said, and he really meant it. Not only for the shield, but for introducing him to the world of gods, to Camp Half-Blood. Even then, Beckendorf could've just dropped him off at the front gates and forgotten about the new young demigod, but he had instead become one of his few friends.
The large demigod merely patted Percy on the shoulder. "No problem, Perce," he told him, "that's what friends are for. Just don't forget," he suddenly looked as ferocious as his size deserved, "we're on opposite teams today, so don't think I'll be giving you any favors."
Percy smirked, dispelling his thoughts. "Heh, like I'll be needing any. I'd watch out if I were you, my team's gonna crush yours!"
Beckendorf gave a bellowing laugh. "Whatever you say, newbie," he said. "Go get armored up, you'll definitely need it."
With that, the son of Hephaestus strode out of the building, leaving Percy to look around the room for anything that might fit him. Finally, he found a size five set, and put it on.
After he was done, he considered the helmet for a second. It was bronze like everything else, but looked a little too big for him, not to mention the horrendous design. 'As if I'd ever wear something like that,' he thought, and with that he walked out of the camp armory, heading towards his team's meeting place.
The blue team encampment was filled with campers, tables, and the sound of clanking metal. Lost and confused, Percy resigned himself to walking around aimlessly until the game began.
"Percy!"
Said demigod turned around and saw his Ancient Greek tutor clanging her way through the mass of campers, a dagger at her hip and a Yankees cap on her hand.
"Oh, hey Cinderella," Percy said with a small smirk, "didn't think you were a big fan of baseball."
Annabeth glared at him before shaking her head with a sigh, making Percy's smirk widen. He'd discovered that annoying the daughter of Athena was really fun, enough to place fourth on his list of reasons he liked Camp Half-Blood. So after a lengthy and incredibly ridiculous argument about her princess curls (it made her look like a dumb blonde stereotype, and she was a daughter of wisdom!), Percy decided to call her by the names of various Disney princesses.
"I have a job for you," she said, not bothering to acknowledge his comment on her hat.
Percy let his smirk fade. She was the one in charge, and anything was better than sauntering around without a purpose. "Okay," he said resolutely, "what's up?"
Annabeth crossed her arms. "Follow me," she told him, and made her way to the main table. Orders had yet to be issued, and Percy hoped that whatever she needed him to do was important, especially since she sought him out personally. They wove through the crowd around the table, and Annabeth leaned down to take a closer look at the map. Percy stood next to her, waiting for the daughter of Athena to say something. Finally, she pointed to a spot on the map.
"See this creek over here?" she asked, prompting him to lean down and look.
"Yeah, I see it."
Annabeth nodded. "I need you to go there and defend it. It's pretty out of the way, and I heard that the other team will send someone around there to try and get the drop on us."
Percy stood straight. "No problem," he said, "but is anyone going in with me?"
Annabeth shook her head. "No, you're going at it alone. If they do send anyone there it won't be any more than one or two people. Think you can handle it?"
Percy crossed his arms and smirked. "Of course I can handle it, those guys'll be toast before they even know I'm there!"
Annabeth smirked a bit too, but it was gone so fast that Percy passed it off as his imagination. "Okay," she said, "now go wait until it's time. I still need to give everyone their own orders."
Percy strode away, trying to play off his excitement at his own personal mission. He leaned against a nearby tree, waiting for the game to start. After a while, he felt something creeping up his legs, and the newbie camper shrieked and almost tumbled to the ground. He looked at his feet and noticed long, thin roots sticking out of the ground and tying around his legs.
With an annoyed sigh, Percy shook off the roots and looked behind his shoulder, finding a grinning daughter of Demeter walking up to him.
"Percy, who knew you were such a little girl?" she asked.
"Very funny, Katie," he told her. "I'm starting to wish I'd never helped you out with this stuff."
With a mischievous smile, Katie patted him on the shoulder and twirled her other hand, making the roots regress back into the ground.
"Well, you did, and now it's second nature," she chuckled out. "So, thanks!"
Hand on his chin, Percy looked her over in contemplation. "You know, I though you hated the Stolls, but I guess they must finally be rubbing off on you after all this time. It was a pretty small prank, but it was still a prank."
Katie's smile dropped, and she looked at her friend with narrowed eyes. "That's low Percy, really low."
Shrugging his shoulders, Percy remembered what he'd been so exited about, and the feeling quickly took hold. "Hey, guess what?" he asked, a satisfied smile on his lips.
Katie looked at him strangely. "What?"
"I just got a super important mission today. Can you believe that?"
Katie looked surprised for a second, but then scoffed. "You know what? No, I really can't."
Percy pouted. "Aw c'mon, I swear it's true! Annabeth just told me to go defend a creek at the edge of the map in case someone tried to sneak by, and I get to do it alone too! Isn't that awesome or what?"
Katie stared at him disbelievingly and palmed her face. 'No one ever goes to the edge, and he's going alone too? That sounds more like she wants him out of the way,' she thought. The daughter of Demeter was about to tell him, but faltered after seeing his excitement. 'I don't want to burst his bubble though...'
"Y'know what this means?" he asked her, and without waiting for an answer, said, "It means that I'm finally starting to be someone important! Yeah, I'm awesome!"
Katie shook her head exasperatedly and flicked his forehead. "Don't get an ego Percy," she told him, "Just be careful, and don't do anything reckless."
Percy rubbed his forehead with his index finger. "You're starting to sound like Chiron now," he said. "Please stop, we don't need another Frank Sinatra fan."
The two laughed, and not long after the blue team was called out to receive their orders. Percy didn't pay attention, already having received his, and when that was done, both teams waited for Chiron to start the game.
"Everybody remember," the old centaur told them, "no maiming, no serious injuries, and no killing. The last time that happened, an unfortunate camper got turned into a toad, and believe me when I say it did not look like a particularly enjoyable experience. Now, are both teams ready?"
There was a chorus of nods, and after a few more moments, Chiron held the horn in front of his face and blew on it after taking a deep breath. Both teams scattered, and Percy ran into the foliage, heading to his designated area, grinning all the way.
Percy sat on the shore of the clearing he'd been guarding. A small creek flowed through the middle, symbolizing the division of the sides, and the line both teams had to cross with the opposing team's flag in hand.
The naive demigod had been waiting around for the better part of an hour, and with no enemies in sight, spent it trying to use his powers on the water. It was harder to use his abilities on liquids than on solids, because the atoms moved around a lot more on their own, but he'd been steadily improving and was currently holding a small ball of water in his hands, trying to form it into different shapes.
"Damn!" Percy shouted, frustrated at the water dripping through his fingers. Every time he tried controlling the water it felt like it was slipping on itself. How was he supposed to command something that refused to be commanded? With a sigh, he looked around the clearing, making sure no one was there before holding his hand out and making a small amount of water from the creek float up to his palm.
He was about to retry the obnoxious exercise until he heard a rustling on the other side of the creek. Quickly, he dashed towards his side of the forest and hid behind a tree, making sure to equip the shield that had been laying beside him.
"Are you sure this isn't cheating, Clarisse?"
Percy's eyes widened, before a small grin formed on his lips. 'That's what I'm talking about!' he thought. 'Round two, suckers!'
"Of course it isn't against the rules!" Clarisse's boorish voice said. "There isn't any rule about moving the flag. This way, no one'll take it from us, and we'll win for sure!"
Carefully, Percy looked around the tree and saw Clarisse flanked by two other guys, all walking across the creek. The daughter of Ares had a red flag in hand and a spear in the other. 'Those cowards are taking their own flag to our side,' he seethed. 'How's anyone supposed to find it if it isn't where it's supposed to be?'
Percy considered his options. He could go find someone from his team and tell them that Clarisse and her goons had moved their flag or he could face them himself with no back-up, possibly assuring the victory of the red team. After a second of thinking, Percy decided that Annabeth had trusted him to defend the creek, no one else, and he was going to make sure the that Clarisse didn't get away with her scheme.
With a twirl of his wrist, several pebbles in the creek formed to make a bigger, but still unnoticable formation right in front of one of Clarisse's bodyguards. The guy tripped on it, face planting on the ground, and the sound distracted Clarisse and her other guard. With another quick twirl, Percy made the pebbles under the other goon's feet shift several inches, forcing him to lose his balance and fall down as well.
"What the Hades is wrong with you two?" Clarisse muttered, looking down at the ground for anything that might've caused her two buddies to fall so suddenly.
Percy smirked at that, and picked up a rock on the ground next to him. He then threw it across the clearing, augmenting its distance with his powers. None of his opponents saw the rock fly by, and when it hit a bush behind them, all of them jumped in surprise.
"Wh-What was that? Who's there?" Clarisse demanded, only to get silence as her answer. The other two campers picked themselves up, and all three stared at the direction of the rustling sound, watching for any enemies.
"You two," Clarisse finally said, "stay here, I'll go check it out. Here," she gave one of them the red flag, "you better not lose it, you hear me?"
The goon nodded, taking the flag and unsheathing his sword. Clarisse held her spear with both hands and moved into the forest, where Percy lost sight of her.
With the only real threat out of the way, Percy walked out of his hiding place. Taking advantage of his opponent's inattention, he twisted around, left arm stretched out, and pressed the button on the handle of his shield. Instantly, the metal strap released his arm and the shield flew like a discus, aiming for the flag-bearer's head.
Using his powers, Percy increased his shield's velocity, and soon it was going at the speed of an arrow shot from an Apollo camper's bow. The moment the bronze disc's fortified edge crashed into his enemy's head, Percy willed it to bounce off into the other goon's as well, leaving two bent helmets on two different heads. He then held his hand out, and caught the shield's handle before re-pressing the button and having the metal strap reattach to his arm.
Both of his opponents dropped unconscious, and Percy couldn't contain the pleased grin that stretched across his face. 'I need to thank Beck again after this.' Hastily, he went over to their unconscious bodies, and took the enemy flag. 'Wait 'till everyone sees this!' he thought and, with the flag in hand, prepared to go back to camp and win the game.
That was, until Clarisse re-entered the clearing and saw her teammates lying unconscious on the ground with her hated enemy in a victory pose over their bodies.
"You! I'll kill you, Prissy!" she screamed, and charged at him with the rage of a thousand suns. Percy cursed himself, having just realized that clanging metal might attract some attention, and dropped the flag on the ground. He took out the pen in his pocket, uncapped it, and turned it into Riptide.
Clarisse jabbed at him with her spear, and Percy blocked accordingly. Unfortunately, the moment the spear crashed into his shield, Percy received a painful shock that had him yelp in surprise. The daughter of Ares laughed maliciously while Percy checked his arm for injuries. "You like my electric spear?" she mocked, "A gift from my father, isn't it great? I don't even have to hit your body to hurt you!"
Percy held his sword in a guarding position. "I thought there wasn't any maiming. What happened to that rule?"
Clarisse laughed even harder. "There's no one else here but you and me," she said, "Now stand still and let me skewer you!"
She jabbed again, and Percy barely dodged out of the way. When he did, he wasn't prepared for Clarisse to hit him across the face with the butt of her weapon, and the young demigod was knocked onto the ground. Clarisse put one foot on his back and prepared to stab him through, but Percy hurriedly shifted the ground under her other foot and she tumbled onto the ground next to him. The young demigod used her confusion to his advantage, and quickly relieved the daughter of Ares of her helmet.
They both rolled away, and the instant Percy stood back up, he threw Clarisse's helmet right at her head. Clarisse, eyes widening at the speed at which her helmet was thrown, twisted her torso just in time to dodge it by a hair's breath. The helm crashed against the tree thirty yards behind her, leaving an indentation on the wooden trunk.
The two fighters stood at the ready, weapons held out and adrenaline running through their bodies.
"How'd you do that?" Clarisse asked through gritted teeth, "The crazy strong throwing, the weird tripping? is that why my teammates fell over, because of you?"
Percy fixed her with a glare. "What do you take me for, some kind of idiot? I'm not telling you anything. I mean, what kind of hero reveals his abilities like that?"
'Yeah, I'm not that stupid.' Percy thought.
-Flashback-
"Damn it!" Percy shouted.
Katie looked over at him from her spot on the grass, a small blueberry bush growing under her hands. "Screaming won't do anything you know," she told him. "Maybe you just need to take it easy for a while."
Percy glowered at her. "Easy for you to say. You don't need good aim to grow a plant." The frustrated demigod sighed. "You'd think that with powers like mine throwing a sword would be no problem."
Several yards in front of him, the tree in what had become their usual training ground was filled with cuts and nicks, though none were inside of the target he had carved into the wood. Percy summoned his sword back to his hand, and prepared to fling it again when he had a sudden thought.
"Hey Katie, I was thinking... Wouldn't it be cool to shout out my moves like how they do on TV?"
Katie raised an eyebrow at his question. "What do you mean?"
"Like if I wanted to throw my sword and use my powers to summon it back, I'd shout something like 'Boomerang Throw!' and then do it."
Katie rubbed the base of her nose and sighed at her friend's naïveté. "You can be really stupid sometimes, you know that?"
Percy looked at her, confused. "What? What's wrong with that? I think it'd be pretty cool."
Katie shook her head. "No Percy, it's not about looking cool, it's just common sense. If you shout out your moves before you do them then everyone'll know what to expect, and honestly the whole 'shouting out your powers' thing is really showy. You're pretentious enough as it is."
Percy cocked his head. "Pretentious? What does that mean? How am I pretentious?"
Turning back to her blueberry bush, Katie shook her head and said, "Just don't start shouting out your moves, it's stupid and it'll get you killed one day."
-Flashback-
"A-Anyway," Percy said, his attention back on the fight, "Bring it on! I don't care if you have some fancy spear, I'll beat you and bring the flag back to my team!"
Clarisse laughed. "You think you're good enough to beat me?" she chuckled, "Whatever Prissy, it's your grave."
The two campers squared off, looking each other over for any signs of weakness. Percy must've been breathing harder than he thought, because Clarisse suddenly charged at him again, ready to run him through. Percy sidestepped her spear and bashed it aside with his shield. He swung his sword diagonally, but the more experienced fighter ducked over his attack. Clarisse then jabbed at his stomach with the butt of her spear, and Percy had his breath knocked out of him, his armor not being able to defend against her brute strength.
The daughter of Ares stabbed at him once more, but Percy jumped out of the way. He finally managed to get his breathing under control, and engaged the larger girl in a flurry of slashes, stabs, and kicks. The young demigod made sure to dodge Clarisse's spear at all costs, sometimes having to sacrifice taking advantage of her few openings to do so.
Proud as she was, Clarisse was forced to admit that her opponent was giving her far more trouble than he should. He was somehow faster than her, and if the dent on the tree her helmet made meant anything, his strength was not to be underestimated. He had a relatively unpolished stance, one that left many openings, but his reflexes were so good it was like he could see every one of her attacks coming before she even made them. As it was, the aggressive girl felt like her experience and skill was the only thing allowing her to keep up.
Clarisse tried to hit him with an overhead strike, but Percy blocked her spear by the shaft. 'So the head's the only thing that can electrify me. Wish I'd known that.' Percy thought, and then uppercuted his opponent right in the chin with the butt of his own weapon. 'It's time I finished this though. Let's see if this works!'
As fast as he could, Percy forced several atoms in the air to condense and attached the concentrated mass to the sole of his boot. Twisting his body around, Percy kicked Clarisse right in the solar plexus, and the concentrated mass of atoms launched her several yards away with a repelling magnetic force, where she landed on her back with a grunt. Not letting up on his offensive, the psychokinetic used his momentum to throw his shield up in the air and used his powers to accelerate its decent.
The bronze shield slammed down on the daughter of Ares with enough strength to leave a Clarisse-shaped indentation on the ground. The disc then bounced off from her body and flew back to its owner. Percy caught the shield, and after a few moments of peace, realized that he'd actually won.
Adrenaline leaving his body, it didn't take long for Percy to notice the numbness of his shield arm, or how his abdominal area felt like it was on fire, or how his cheek felt like it was stung by hit by a boulder. Shoulders sagging, the victorious demigod re-capped Riptide, picked up the red team's flag, and walked over to Clarisse's still form.
He looked her over, and was surprised to see her scowling at him. "Clarisse?" he asked incredulously, "How... How are you not passed out after that?"
Clarisse snorted, but then winced in pain, her hand going to her chest. "I'm... tougher than st-steel, Prissy. As if y-y-you could ever... knock me out." Clarisse hesitated, and her scowl deepened before she continued, "You... You beat me f-fair and square though... and that was a p-pretty good fight... so go win the g-g-game already. If you tell anyone about it though... I swear I'll..."
"I get it, I get it," Percy interrupted, a small grin on his face. "Don't tell me the great Clarisse, daughter of Ares, is going soft on me now."
"Prissy!"
"Just kidding!" Percy said, trying to calm her down, especially seeing as how she didn't really need to exert herself right then. "Well... see ya around I guess. And Clarisse," here Percy gave her a true smile, "it was a good fight. You really are the toughest person I know."
Clarisse scoffed, though an almost unnoticeable blush could be seen on her face. "Whatever Prissy... just go get an Apollo kid... my chest hurts like a bitch."
Percy chuckled, and flag in hand, headed to his team's encampment.
When Percy finally saw sight of the blue team encampment, his whole team seemed to be arguing. With a start, Percy realized that it must've been hours after the game began, and felt slightly guilty about taking his time to get there.
Some campers must've seen him coming, or at least the flag high over his head. Soon, the whole mass of campers ran towards him, whooping and screaming in victory. Percy thought that he might get trampled, but instead he was hoisted up and carried to the main table, where they set him down to look on as he was celebrated by his whole team. Chiron sounded the horn, but it was drowned out by the chanting of his name.
Katie and Luke looked on with pride in their eyes, while Annabeth found it hard to take her jaw off the floor. Noticing this, Katie smirked at the other girl. "What's wrong, Annabeth?" she teased. "Wasn't this part of your master plan?"
Annabeth shook her head, Katie's question having snapped her out of her daze. "I'll admit, I didn't see it coming. I thought he'd be too much trouble to deal with so I just put him somewhere where he couldn't interfere."
Luke chuckled, placing a hand on his old friend's shoulder. "You'll learn that underestimating Percy isn't very smart," he told her, then rubbed a spot on his arm. "Believe me, I've learned that the hard way."
Katie inwardly giggled at the blush on Annabeth's cheeks. She looked back at Percy, and couldn't help but notice how happy he was, raising the red team's flag like a trophy while all of the blue team clapped and cheered. 'Percy, you still need some work, but you're really something special.' The daughter of Demeter then had another thought, and all her inner praise stopped cold on its tracks. 'Damn, his ego'll shoot sky high after this. I better double the effort on putting him down, maybe even get some other people involved.' She sighed. 'It's gonna be a rough few days...'
Percy sat on a bench not far from the Hermes cabin. It had been a long day, and he felt more tired than he'd ever been in his life. He'd somehow managed to get an Apollo kid to go take care of Clarisse over all the chaos that followed his victory, and she'd turned up a few minutes later with only a few broken ribs.
After all the cheering and praising though, it didn't take long for Percy's mood to sour. Even after such a glorious victory, after beating Ares' best demigod one-on-one, he still hadn't been claimed.
'What do I have to do?' he thought somberly. 'Maybe they really did forget about me after all.'
"Hey Percy," said a voice to his left, and Percy turned to find Luke pointing at the space next to him. "You mind?" The older teen asked.
"Nah, it's okay," the psychokinetic said, and he felt almost relieved. Maybe Luke could distract him from his depressing mood.
"You seem pretty depressed about something. What's up?"
Or not.
"It's nothing, really," Percy said, but Luke only raised a brow and crossed his arms expectantly, leaning back and sitting in a relaxed position. "Fine," Percy said, "It's not that big of a deal, I'm just kinda put out that I didn't get claimed, even after all that, y'know?"
Luke closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "I know what you mean Perce, and don't worry, it's okay to be disappointed in the gods."
Percy furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?" he asked.
Luke opened his eyes and stared off at the distance. "You aren't the only one who gets the short end of the stick, Percy. Our cabin is a prime example of the gods' ignorance. Do you know that more than half of our cabin-mates aren't even demigods of Hermes? Everyone else has been forgotten just like you."
Percy closed his fists tightly, and scowled deeply. "Why though?" he asked. "Why can't the gods just remember? I mean, they're gods right? They should be able to at least do that."
Luke shook his head. "The gods may be immortal, but they're far from perfect. Even when you get claimed, it isn't much better. Sure, you know who birthed you, but it doesn't really mean anything. I've only seen my father twice, and one of those times was when I did my quest."
Luke seemed to get angry then. "They think they're so flawless, like they can never make any mistakes. The truth is, those damn Olympians make the most mistakes of all!"
Thunder boomed in the sky, and Percy nervously looked up, his frustration forgotten. The young demigod glanced at Luke. "That's some dangerous stuff, Luke," he said. "You should watch what you say, Chiron says that the gods don't take insults very well."
Luke took a deep breath and his shoulders relaxed. "Yeah I know, it just pisses me off sometimes, but the Olympians are the ones in charge. At least... for now."
Percy looked at his teacher weirdly, but before he could say anything, the call for dinner rang across the valley. "Come on," Luke said, standing up, "I'm sure you could use a good meal after the day that you've had."
Percy nodded, and side by side, the teacher and student walked to the dining pavilion, where they sat in the cramped Hermes table and dined on BBQ steak, bread, and fruits.
AN:
After much procrastination, chapter four is finally done.
I think I did pretty well in the Percy vs Clarisse fight, especially since my Percy couldn't use some (admittedly) BS power up by touching water. Not that it's a bad thing in canon! Please don't flame me!
Plus, the only reason Percy won was because he took Clarisse by surprise with his powers. If it wasn't because of that, her experience and knowledge would've outlasted his natural talent and reflexes. Not that he didn't win legitimately, because he did, but I'm just saying so that no one says I made him too strong too fast. Even then, he is better than he should be right? There's an explanation, but I'm afraid it won't be revealed for a long time.
So yeah, next chapter's probably when the quest starts, and believe me, it might be the same basic concept as in canon, but the journey will be completely different.
Anyway, 'till next time! :D
