Honestly, I hate this fic now.

It forces me to write the thing I hate writing; fight scenes. It irks me cause I can't think of a good plot twist. It's strangely difficult for me to write in Percy's POV. And people get impatient cause I never update.

If I was the type of Author to delete stories, this would be gone faster than you can say 'Chuck Norris'. But I'm not. In fact, I shudder at the very idea of deletion. So I'll try to finish this and get it out of my way quickly. Sorry to those who like this: I despise
it.

Now, after that satisfyingly and refreshingly whiney rant, let's continue! =D

PPOV

I really hate Mondays. I honestly do. It's not abnormal; a lot of people hate Mondays. And it's not strange that I despise them with all of my being and soul and beyond, because of my many horrible school experiences. Monday just makes me want to retch, especially Monday morning.

After all, it's always on Monday morning when your bed is the softest, warmest, most amazing thing ever. And what do you have to do? Get your lazy butt out of it and hightail to school, praying you're not tardy again.

Except, for me, this despicable Monday morning I had to fight a supernatural crocodile-elephant hybrid monster by the name of Ruliliante (Ruli for short).

I knew that Ruli was a force to be reckoned with. Every sight of her formiddable crocodile jaws with their rows upon rows of gleaming fangs made me flinch involuntarily. I could all too clearly imagine those teeth sinking into my flesh. The picture of my own defeat was clear in my mind's eye. Ruli, her teeth bloody and gruesome, standing over my mangled corpse and trumpeting a triumphant victory cry.

Well, maybe Frio would mourn for me.

See, this is what I mean about Mondays. Groaning, I rolled over on my mat and pulled the thin blanket over my head. Even though my eyes were screwed tightly shut, I could still picture the scene of my defeat. I would never see Annabeth again. I would never talk to Grover, or the Stoll brothers, or Chiron. Even the thought of never seeing Mr D again made me sad.

That was my first clue that I was deeply sunk in a horrible case of Monday morning blues. I got like this sometimes on Mondays, inexplicably depressed. If I was sad about the thought of never hearing another 'Peter Johnson' cross Mr D's lips, then this was serious. I needed some chocolate, pronto.

Unfortunately, as heavenly as the isle of Corinthos was, it did not serve chocolate for breakfast. I sighed, the sound drenched in unhappiness. Frio and KaRino, who were sitting at the picnic table with a few other monsters, looked up at me in alarm. "Are you alright, young hero?" Trest asked, actually sounding concerned.

I shook my head wordlessly, not even bothering to marvel that Trest had spoken politely to me for the first time since our fight. I absentmindedly rubbed a scabbing cut on my left cheek. It was a souvenir from my battle with KaRino yesterday, along with several other painful reminders on my hands and neck. KaRino was very clever
with her claws, and I had some deep marks to prove it. For all I know, I might suddenly drop dead from infection of claw wounds. I should write out my will before I do anything else-

I took a deep breath, attempting to calm myself down. I seriously needed to ditch the depression weighing me down. I felt far too pessimistic than what could be considered healthy. "I'm gonna go to that pool again," I said aloud to no one in particular. KaRino lashed her tail in acknowledgement, but no one else said anything as I headed towards the forest.

"Young Perseus." Ruli's raspy, hushed voice stopped me in my emo tracks. "When you return, we shall battle."

"Sure," I replied casually, trying to banish the image of my bloody corpse from my head. "See you then."

I made my way slowly and somberly through the forest, my spirits low and my optimism nonexistent. I wondered how long I would get by on sheer luck. Frio had accidentally let slip earlier that I was the youngest challenger they had ever seen. Most of Eros' victims were apparently age eighteen to age thirty. And here I was, fourteen years old and raring to go.

Annabeth better appreciate this.

I sighed again at the thought of Annabeth. She was far away, oceans away, in a different country on a different continent. Who knows if I would ever see her again? I had to fight three more monsters before I even had a chance to get her to like me again, and there was always the chance one of them would kill me. I had already defeated Frio, Trest, and KaRino, that was true. However, I still had to battle Ruli today, on the worst day of the week. After that I had to face a lynx-eel hybrid named Klianstyl, and her brother, a bobcat-scorpion named Enrystyl. Klian and Enry were slightly strange, but then again, as I had to keep reminding myself, they were monsters. And Klian was utter perfection when it came to Limbo. As I have said before, great Limbo masters are often great fighters. Enry was more of a mango juice fanatic than his sister, though. He hung out with Ruli by the picnic table at most of the luaus we had had over the past few days, not saying
much to anyone but her. However, despite his evident non-interest in Limbo, I had witnessed the awe inspiring strength Enry possessed multiple times during my stay on Corinthos. My fights with both siblings and Ruli did not bode well.

Finally, I reached the pool. With yet another sigh, I sank into the cool depths, conpletely submerging and falling lightly to the bottom. My worries and pessimism slipped away like a cloud on a windy day, leaving me feeling peaceful and soothed. I was strong. I could hold my own in a battle against Ruli, Klian, or Enry. And I had plenty
of motivation to win, also. I was doing this for Annabeth, and to rub it in Eros' face that his little trick didn't work. That was all I had to remember. I breathed deeply in and out, watching bubbles whoosh from my nose and sidle up to the surface of the pool.

Water is such a great comforter. It made me feel completely better, andi was now officially over my Monday morning blues. I could take on a thousand Rulis now. I was ready.

As an added healing bonus from the water, the claw wounds i had received from KaRino had all healed up. However, for whatever reason, the water didn't take away any scarring like it usually did. I could feel the faint ridge raised on my left cheek from the scab I had been rubbing this morning, and my hands were now crisscrossed with slight marks that looked like tanner lines on my skin.

I assume it was like another trophy, like the ones stored in my metal box. I had a feeling those scars wouldn't ever go away.

Whatever.

Propelling myself straight up from the sandy bottom of the pool, I trudged through the shallow water sloshing around my ankles and stepped onto dry land. I uncapped Riptide, watching impassively as it elongated into the glittering bronze sword form. I hefted the sword in my hand and started back towards camp, a slight smile playing on my lips.

Showtime.

o.O.o:O:o.O.o

I had barely stepped into camp when Ruli stood up from the picnic table, her many rows of teeth glittering dangerously. "Are you ready, young hero?" she asked, her long crocodile tail swishing impatiently behind her. I simply nodded, and Ruli's eyes glinted. "Let us begin."

All the monsters in the camp cleared out around the perimeter to watch the fight. I didn't glance at them, though. My eyes were riveted on Ruli. She swayed rhythmically in her stance, black crocodile eyes trained solely on me. However, she didn't move.

It took a moment for it to occur to me that, unlike any of the other monsters I had faced, Ruli was waiting for me to act first. Once I realized this, however, I stayed still, my fingers clenching tighter on Riptide's hilt. Ruli's reptillian gaze was cold and narrow, and her only movement was the slow flapping of her elephant ears. We stood facing each other, motionless, for a long time. I wasn't sure exactly how long, but it felt like eternity.

Finally, I realized that Ruli was fully capable of outwaiting me. I was getting antsier and antsier, while Ruli still looked like the epitome of calm. It was time to strike. Without anwarning, I lunged towards the monster and swung Riptide in a flashing bronze arc towards her head.

Lightning fast, Ruli sidestepped my sword thrust and whipped her tail towards me. The long, scaly crocodile tail was hard and spiny as it tripped me, causing me to fall backwards on my butt. Ruli sank to all fours and leaped at me while I was on the ground, and I rolled to the side, carefully pulling Riptide in so its blade wouldn't slice me by accident.

Ruli kept coming after me, lashing her tail at my feet and snapping her lethal jaws near my face. Calculating her moves as fast as I could, I jumped to my feet and twirled Riptide's glinting bronze blade towards Ruli's heart. She blocked my sword's path, however, with her long, green-gray muzzle. My blade slashed the surface of her skin, but bounced off almost immediately. Ruli's eyes darkened aw she raised a claw to her face and caught some of the green blood dripping off. "Congratulations, young hero," she hissed, circling around me. I turned with her, keeping my body facing her. "You have managed to land a hit on me. It will not happen again." With that, Ruli lungedfanged
jaws snapping and her claws extended, at a much swifter speed than before. I ducked and rolled away, stirring up the dirt even more. The majority of the sandy grit previously covering the floor was now swirling in the hazy air, impairing my vision and making me squint. Ruli didn't seem to be having a problem with the dust, though. "Crocodiles have a protective eyelid for swimming, young Perseus. It serves me well right now," Ruli said casually, as if she had read my mind.

"How useful," I managed to say as I barely avoided her swinging tail for the fifteenth time. Ruli simply laughed.

What happened next was so painful that it brought real tears to my annoyingly dry, sandy eyes. Ruli swiped at me with her tail, and I lashed Riptide towards the crocodilian weapon, hoping to bring it out of play. Before I knew it, Ruli's jaws had closed around my sword arm, and pain erupted all through the appendage as Riptide clattered out of my shocked fingers and hit the ground.

Ruli's teeth were just as sharp as I had imagined them to be as they sank further and further into my arm. It took all my willpower to scream. Instead, I fell to the ground, groping around one handed for Riptide. I was half blinded by the pain in my arm, and another quarter blinded by the grit swirling through the air. These combined severely impaired my vision. I was so muddled by the pain coursing through my sword arm that I almost didn't realize when the fingers of my left hand brushed against Riptide's hilt. I grabbed for it, and slid my fingers awkwardly around the grip. This hand wasn't used to holding my sword, and I felt very strange fighting left-handed.

My right arm was still trapped in Ruli's powerful jaws, and I could feel the blood running down my shoulder and soaking my shirt. As well as I could manage with my left hand, I slashed across Ruli's muzzle repeatedly, drawing more and more of the green blood. However, Ruli didn't seem to notice, and had jaws didn't loosen on my limp right arm.

Finally, I poked Riptide awkwardly at the hinges of her jaws, twisting the point of my blade into the muscles. Ruli's mouth instantly popped open, allowing my bloodied arm to fall uselessly and painfully against my side. Ruli swiped a scaly arm across her snout, wiping away some of the blood caused by my random hits with Riptide. I tried to move my sword arm, and almost fainted from the pain.

That would have sucked.

Swearing mentally, I tightened my grip on Riptide's hilt, attempting to get a comfortable hold on my sword. I cursed myself again for not learning how to fight effectively with both of my hands. Meanwhile, Ruli advanced towards me again, and my brain flurried with ideas on how not to die in this sticky situation. My throbbing arm was kinda distracting, however, and I couldn't think of anything that would work.

I couldn't win this battle with my sword arm half-bitten off.

Percy... Think...

I blinked at the serenity of the voice floating through my head. The calm, levelheaded tone it possessed immediately made me realize it couldn't possibly be just me talking to myself. The voice was cool and peaceful, washing over me like water...

Water! That was it! As soon as the thought came to me, Ruli had lunged for my other arm, apparently wishing to cripple me completely so I couldn't use my sword.

I danced quickly out of the way of her open maw, twirling
Riptide's point in a sharp circle across the roof of her very terrifying mouth. Ruli roared, and withdrew briefly. Without a second thought, I sprinted out of the clearing and ran towards the pond.

Ruli was apparently surprised by my actions, because it took her a second to realize I had left. Then, she was after me again. I could hear her crocodile tail crashing into things as she pursued me. My legs moved faster as I picked up the pace, trying desperately not to jiggle my limp sword arm too much. As it was, half of my vision was whited out with pain.

All in all, I was pretty lucky I even made it to the pond. My knees felt weak as I dragged my aching body to the water's edge. Only the sound of Ruli trampling the undergrowth behind me gave me the strength to pull myself forward and plunge into the water.

The relief was instant: the fiery pain in my sword arm subsided, replaced with a gentle tingle. Any weariness I had from the battle flowed away in a silken ribbon. I could see perfectly well again, and before my eyes the bite on my arm was closing up.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love water?

"Thank you, Father," I murmured, my voice bubbling out into the water. As if in reply, a current appeared out of nowhere, brushing past my shoulder. I smiled.

Then, out of nowhere, I spotted a crocodile tail whipping through the water. The smile vanished from my face. Ruli had followed me into the pond.

This made sense, actually. She was part crocodile, after all. I gritted my teeth and switched Riptide back to its proper place in my right hand.

Thankfully, my sword arm was now completely healed, with only a faint tattoo of scar lines showing where Ruli had bitten. I tested out the mobility of my newly healed arm by slashing it through the water and clipping Ruli's snout as she rushed me in an underwater charge.

Ruli recoiled from the blow, and set to charge again. Her tail was lashing the water into a bubbly froth behind her, stirring it up with more force than the small waterfall that fed the pool. I was apparently not the only one energized by the water. Ruli seemed refreshed, although her cuts hadn't healed like mine had. At least I still had that advantage.

We battled for who knows how long in the pool, the water frothing and churning as we dove and struck at each other. Thanks to the water, neither of us got tired. However, part of my mind was starting to get bored of the endless fighting, and I found myself getting distracted by a tiny fish darting past. I hadn't noticed any fish in the pool any other time I had visited-

Ruli's teeth scraped my sword arm yet again, jarring me out of my thoughts. Swearing heavily, I backpedaled through a sheath of bubbles, hiding inside to recover for a moment.

My sword arm was now completely criss-crossed with lines of teeth marks from Ruli, and none of them would heal completely. They all left white lines of scarring, which was highly unusual for me.

I had to end this now. After all, it was getting a bit boring.

Suddenly, I rocketed out of my hiding spot amid the bubbles, and slammed head on into a very surprised Ruli. My right arm, of course, had to land directly in her open mouth. She chomped down on my wriggling sword arm, wrapping her tail around my body so I couldn't escape.

My weapon was stuck, and I was trapped.

Or so you might think.

Trying to ignore the pain tearing through my head like Clarisse's electric spear, I closed my eyes and concentrated. Please work, I thought, swirling my left arm up through the water

Something tugged in my gut, and the water started shifting around us. Ruli didn't appear to notice, but I watched as the whirlpool began. It was agonizingly slow at first, but finally, the swirling water sped up and sent us spinning rapidly around in circles.

The whirlpool tactics. Perfect distraction with just a few waves of the arm.

Ruli still had her jaws clamped on my arm, and her tail hadn't yet been pried away from me by the harsh currents. I was the only still point in the whirlpool, the calm at the eye of the hurricane. I felt nothing more than a soft swirl of water brushing by me, whereas Ruli looked like she was caught in an underwater tornado.

I hammered at her mouth with my left fist, trying to get it to open. Ruli was firmly attached, though, and she had obviously realized I was the only anchorage she could get in the whirlpool. I tightened my grip on Riptide's hilt and continued to beat at her jaws.

Finally, I found the sweet spot at the hinge of her jaws, and they popped open like they were on springs. Ruli's tail tightened around my legs, and she lashed her long snout around, snapping her jaws and trying to bite another part of me.

With a calm I normally never possess, I angled Riptide at the most precise point I could manage with Ruli flailing about like she was. Then, as Ruli opened her mouth to crunch down on me again, I thrust my arm directly into her mouth, all the way up to my shoulder. She looked surprised for a moment, before Riptide's point pierced the back of her throat. Ruli's jaws stiffened around my arm, then relaxed, floating open. Her tail stayed clenched around me in her final death grip, though, and her body was pulling me to the bottom of the pool with its dead weight.

I breathed out forcefully in a long stream of bubbles, and suddenly, as if on command, the whirlpool halted. "Thank you, Father," I whispered again, watching the bubbles holding my words speed out of my mouth.

It took me a moment to uncurl Ruli's stiffened tail, gently easing it off my legs. I tried not to look at her glazed eyes, or the blood spurting out the back of her neck and mixing with the water. Carefully, I pried one of the loosened teeth out of her lower jaw, and her body vanished in a swirl of bubbles. All that was left was a few more teeth spiraling down to the bed of the pool. I caught them in my free hand, and tucked them into my pocket.

Ruli was defeated.

Feeling exhausted, I swam slowly up to the surface again. As my head breached the choppy water, I heard Frio's voice. "There he is!" Frio called happily, apparently spotting me with his eagle eyesight.

"It seems young Perseus has prevailed," KaRino purred, smiling her feline smile at me.

I nodded wearily as I stepped onto dry land again. My energy deserted me suddenly as I left the water, and I almost collapsed. "Ruli's a good fighter," I rasped, carefully holding her teeth so they wouldn't cut into my hand.

"As are you, Perseus Jackson," Ruli rumbled, appearing suddenly on the banks of the pool. "You fought well."

"Thank you," I managed to say. "Can we go back now?"

Frio laughed. "It doesn't look like you'll make it back to the camp," he observed.

"Allow me," KaRino offered, lowering her back.

"Thank you," I mumbled sleepily, stumbling over and carefully mounting KaRino's sleek back, just above where her tentacles sprouted from her waist. KaRino rose to her feet again, and I held onto the scruff of her neck as she started back towards camp.

I was so tired out by the battle that I barely noticed the ride back. After what seemed like a long time, KaRino tipped me off her back and onto my mat. I immediately fell asleep, exhausted by the combination of a long, difficult battle and the creation of that whirlpool.

The last thought in my mind was that I still had to fight Klian tomorrow, and Enry day after that.

Crap.

Kay then, there's a chapter. The next one will probably take awhile, I'm sorry!

Hope you enjoyed!

~TMI~