Chapter 2: Percy

Pure silence from the entire Senate house. Of course, this place was filled with demigods, so that silence didn't last. Seconds later, the whole room exploded, and everyone had questions.

"Is there a prize for winning?"

"Is maiming allowed?!"

"PLEASE BAN PERCY!"

"ENOUGH." demanded Reyna, and again, everyone complied. "The combatants have already been chosen. 16 participants will take part in the tournament and only one will come out on top. Maiming is allowed as we have healers, and the prize will not be part of the discussion today. Lastly, the seeding has already been finalized."

"Wait, seeding? What does that mean?" Connor Stoll asked.

"Well, it's basically a ranking of who we believe is the strongest of the 16... and the weakest." Frank said.

It seems that everyone's egos got bruised a little so Frank added some more.

"Please don't take the seeding too seriously. The point of it is to beat your seeding by placing high in the tournament, as well as give top seeds their deserved recognition." Frank said quickly.

Hazel put her hand in the air. And Frank was happy to let her speak.

"So, whoever is bottom seed means they would fight the highest seed in the first round? If so, how is that fair to them?" Hazel asked.

Frank was about to answer but Chiron took the reins.

"We have determined seeding by prior achievements and overall strength in battle. We reward the top seeds achievements with easier matches in the first rounds. It is our own laissez-faire approach to the event.If you are not happy with your seeding, then, by all means, prove us wrong in the tournament by beating higher seeds than yourself." Chiron said. Chiron's statement definitely shut some people up. Except for one.

"Who are the 16?"

Everyone turned to me, but it was really Annabeth who said it. To be honest, Annabeth should be up there as an unofficial leader. She seemed irritated that she found out about the tournament just like everyone else. Now she had no control whatsoever.

"Praetor Zhang, read off the list," Reyna ordered.

Frank walked forward to the podium with a scroll in hand.

I look towards Annabeth who seemed to be calm on the surface, but I knew the truth. She didn't want anything to do with this contest just like me. I held her hand and we both interlocked our fingers. It was a slim chance, but hopefully, we don't get picked.

"The sixteen participants listed in form of seeding are." Frank took a deep breath as we waited with the same bated breath.

"Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, Nico Di Angelo"

Yea, slim chance. No surprise there. Children of the big three, all of which are believed to go far in the tournament. Jason looked at me and smiled as I did the same. However, my smile melted as quickly as it came. Fighting Jason sounds fun, but I was really hoping to dodge this entire thing. As for Nico being the third seed, Some looked weirded out by that, but I knew better. The guy was a monster when he wanted to be. However, Nico himself looked weird out by it. He tried to hide behind Will discreetly while Will was trying to hold his laugher. It's sad to think about it, but it reminded me of the past. How Nico used to hide behind his older sister Bianca

"Thalia Grace, Reyna Arellano, Annabeth Chase, and Frank Zhang."

Annabeth wasn't surprised by her inclusion, but she seemed just as bothered as me. She didn't have time to express her angry as the Romans in the Senate House were muttering to themselves as their whispers were getting louder.

"Wait, the praetors are allowed in this tournament?" said Dakota.

It seems like most legionaries were asking the same question. That's confusing. Don't the Romans want one of their own in the tournament?

"Tell me you don't get it, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said.

"What, I get it. I totally get it."

Annabeth waited for me to figure it out, but I was drawing a blank. One-upping Annabeth was definitely a miracle play. Back to being clueless.

"Ok, you win. Why is everyone mad at Reyna?" I said.

"The tournament is going to have more Greeks than Romans naturally. We're on their turf and we have to prove ourselves. Not only that, but many of the legionnaires are working during Ludi Decem and are setting up the tournament. They probably believe that the praetors would do the same as them. Instead, both praetors are entering the tournament." Annabeth explained.

Reyna stepped up to the podium to address the backlash. She had to prove herself when Jason disappeared so to her, this might not be that different.

"Yes, it is true that I and Praetor Zhang will be in this tournament. Many of you will work during the celebration and will provide support outside of the arena. However, can you think of someone else that can represent the true strength and power of Rome?" Reyna stated.

Most of the legion was starting to be convinced. There was almost no one on her level in terms of combat within the camp. If Camp Jupiter wanted to win it all, it had to bet on their strongest chip.

"I promise you that I will achieve victory and cement Camp Jupiter as the strongest!"

The house erupted as almost every Roman was on their feet. Even the first cohort who still resented Reyna were welled up with pride. Thalia, her hunters, and even Clarisse looked at Reyna with fierce eyes that all said the same thing. You just made a whole lot of enemies in this tournament. To be honest, fighting any of them would be scary. Frank tried to calm everybody down as he continued to list off the names of the participants.

"Next three." Frank looked at the next set name and smiled. Yea, I knew what was coming.

"Hazel Levesque, Leo Valdez, Piper Mclean"

At this point, it was obvious that the seven of prophecy were going to be in the tournament. Most of the Greeks and Romans saw it coming so these three names were received normally and without the applause that Reyna got.

Of course, one person yelled with excitement after their name was heard.

"From the grave comes the bad boy supreme himself entering the tournament! No one saw this coming, right babe!" scream Leo.

"Y-yes. Such a surprise." Calypso spoke in a smaller voice, out of embarrassment.

Everyone's eyes of disdain were on Leo. Greeks and Romans may have their problems, but if there was one thing they can agree on, it's that Leo was the most annoying demigod of all time. To be fair, it's part of his charm.

"Uhm, Leo, do you mind?" Frank asked quietly.

"Oh, my bad, guys. We can celebrate my return later." Leo said loudly.

"Yea, for the twentieth time," said Thalia as the rest of Hunters snickered quietly.

"Up next, Clarisse La Rue, Michael Kahale, and Will Solace.

If you thought the Romans were loud after Reyna's speech, you never heard them yell for Kahale. Mostly from the first to third cohorts, the celebration was unanimous. Reyna and Michael were the favorites in the tournament. At least for the Romans. Michael sat among his centurions and didn't really pay attention to the applause. He instead focused on both praetors and seemed to hang on their every word. Looking disciplined and humble.

"Don't really know that many centurions in the first cohort. Is he a child of Mars?"

"Well, it seems that being praetor for a day didn't teach you much about the campers here." Annabeth teased. "By the way, he's a child of Venus, not Mars."

Whoa, that's surprising. The guy looks like he could deadlift a few giants. I was surprised at first, but Aphrodite has had some tough kids in her recent year. Piper, Silena, and now this guy. This tournament isn't pulling punches.

The rest of the names went out without much fanfare since it was Greeks who had no interactions with Camp Jupiter till now. Katie Gardner representing the Demeter cabin, Kayla Knowles is the second child of Apollo in the tournament, and the last seed, and apparently weakest. Travis Stoll representing the Hermes Cabin.

Travis looked depressed by his placement, but even worst was the face of Connor Stoll who realized that he wasn't even in the tournament. It was the same face of a lot of other demigods who thought they had a chance as well. Both Roman and Greek. I understand the disappointment. Everyone wants to prove themselves, but quests are dangerous and sparse. This tournament doesn't require the world ending to happen and you get to be in the limelight.

"Maybe we should give up our spot? There are a lot of campers who would kill for this." I said to Annabeth.

Annabeth was just as annoyed as I was, but her level-headedness took the wheel as usual.

"Percy, trying to duck out of the tournament might not sit well with the praetors and Chiron. They spent a lot of time getting this ready." Annabeth argued. "Also, who is going to take our spot? There are only a few Romans allowed in the tournament and giving up our spots to someone from Camp Half-blood might seem disrespectful to them.

"Ugh, there are so many hoops to jump through. Isn't there a simple solution?" I asked.

Annabeth kissed me on the cheek. "There is, lets enter this tournament and win. Then we can celebrate and relax for the rest of time here."

Annabeth always knew how to calm me down, but before I got a chance to respond back to her, Reyna interrupted.

"The tournament will be a two-day event. The first day will take place at the Coliseum on December 20th and the second day on December 21st. The end of the Ludi Decem festival.

'And the start of winter solstice' I thought to myself. Monsters would be stirring during that time. Luckily, we were protected within the camp. It was up to Lupa and her wolves to protect any new demigods that appeared during that time.

"That leaves you all 3 days to prepare," Reyna announced. "The brackets and the format of the tournament will be discussed tomorrow. That will be all for today, you may leave." With that, Reyna immediately walked off with Frank and Chiron in tow. The rest of the campers did the same as celebrations were still happening in the forum.

Annabeth and I walked out of the Senate House with Thalia, Nico, and Will Solace as we ran into Jason and Piper. The look of all our faces said it all. Mixed emotions that slowly turned into excitement.

Jason looked my way and broke the silence first.

"I fought in the coliseum plenty of times, and I'm pretty sure it has an open ceiling and no seas for you, Aquaman." Jason gloated.

"No worries, man. Some water pipes are good enough for me. Also, I fought in my fair share of coliseums too, so don't go easy on me." I said and smiled back. I wasn't really in the mood for trash talk, but I humored Jason. We never truly settled our score. Despite my lack of interest in the tournament, I couldn't help but feel excited to go one on one against him.

Jason whistled heavily and snapped back. "You're the first seed of the whole tournament. There's no way I would take it easy on the strongest demigod in, what? 300 years? I remember someone exaggerating that when I first came to Camp Half-blood." Jason joked.

I flinched when he said that. That's what they used to say about Luke Castellan, my old teacher and friend. I guess history changes when you're forgotten.

"Just remember, our one and only fight in Kansas was my win. Just ask Piper." Jason said.

"And then you got knocked out by a brick. Hey, is the brick in the tournament?" I trash-talked back.

Annabeth came out of nowhere and hit us both on the heads and ending the conversation quickly.

"Enough of the boring macho talk, let's talk about why this tournament is even happening." Annabeth addressed.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Piper asked. "It's just a fun little tournament to show our skills. Nothing else."

"I can't imagine there was a bigger reason than that. Right?" Will added.

"I don't think so," Annabeth said. "I understand that having us for the Ludi Decem is historic and deserves some special event, but a tournament to establish the strongest demigod? Why not just go for Capture the flag or Wargames? Something is off."

Annabeth was deep in thought. She was the smartest person I know, but everyone was seemed to agree that it was just a tournament and nothing else. While having a tournament may not be Chiron's style, I can see Reyna coming up with the idea for a full Roman victory.

I put my arm over Annabeth's shoulder to reassure her. "We're in Rome, so let's do what the Romans do."

Thalia seemed to agree as she also put her arm over Annabeth's shoulder. The weight of both of us put a smile on Annabeth's face.

"Stop overthinking things like you always do and live a little!" Thalia shouted. "C'mon, let me introduce you to the new recruits of the hunters and ditch Seaweed Brain here."

"Only if I can torture them a little with my SAT test rambling" Annabeth laughed and Thalia agreed as they both walked away, ditching me in the process.

"Yikes, a hunter of Artemis stole your girlfriend. How does that even happen?"

Leo appeared alongside Calypso with the snide remark. Jason snickered and Piper and Will both tried to hide their own laughter as well. Well, at least they tried to hide it.

"Yea yea, it's 'making fun of Percy' day. Let's move on now. Who's training?" I asked.

Jason shrugged at the very idea. As a former praetor, I thought he would take it more seriously. But I guess these past few days of relaxation have swayed his work ethic for a bit.

"Just gotta worry about the final day of the tournament. The first day can't be that hard." Jason said honestly.

I had to agree with him. The seeding was done so the higher seeds would naturally fight the lower seeds as it was their right for years of hard work. If Travis Stoll was the bottom seed and I was the first seed, then that means I fight him in the first round. No disrespect, but I didn't need to practice for that.

I don't know about you guys, but I'll keep partying for a little while, thank you very much." Leo said, surprising no one.

"Oh no no no, you will be training you're butt off to win the tournament since I can't enter," Calypso said.

"WHAT! Babe, I wasn't built for fighting. I'm a fixer, not a fighter!"

"The phrase is 'I'm a lover, not a fighter' by the way" Will explained.

"Whatever. Besides who's gonna train me? You're strong sweetheart, but I don't know anything about magic!" Leo said trying to weasel himself out of it.

Leo was happy to be in the tournament just for the show and nothing else. While not surprising, it was kind of funny. I couldn't wait to see how he would fare against someone like Reyna or Thalia.

"Oh, who said I would be training you? I brought along a personal trainer who just happens to be in the tournament as well." Calypso said mysteriously.

From behind Leo, came a towering figure. Leo looked shocked and scared at the fact that Clarisse La Rue was staring him down.

"I owe Beckendorf and Silena a solid. So, let's train, wretch monkey." Clarisse said as she pulled Leo away by his overalls.

Leo screamed bloody murder as Calypso walked with them and everyone else laughed.

"Well, that inspired me. Hey, Nico, want to train as well?" Will asked.

Out of nowhere, Nico appears and agrees to train with Will. I guess Will was the only one to notice that he was there the whole time. While Nico still tends to hide in the shadows, he now had a brighter face and looked downright happy by the news.

"Healing is the best you can do, so, it's time to toughen you up a little," Nico said confidently.

"Let me join you two. Let's see if Hazel wants to join as well." Asked Piper, which surprised everyone. There was a spark in her eyes that was undeniable. She wanted to win this whole thing. Was it to prove herself? Beats me, but Jason looked a little wounded by her words since she didn't ask him for training.

"Well, the more the merrier. Let's go!" Will said as they all said good-bye to both Jason and me.

"She asks Hazel but not me. Wow." Jason said in a shocking tone.

I gave him a grin and walked with him. Jason and I were on the same wavelength. This tournament was cool, but we both had nothing else to prove. While the others went along for their training, why can't the two of us enjoy ourselves?

"Eh who needs em? Let's go get us some burgers at the forum. The last one there is paying." I said and then rushed off.

"Hey, get back here, waterboy!"

We both ran and enjoyed our night without any interference. One night to relax before the chaos begins.

Thank you for reading! The next two chapters will focus on Hazel and are out now! Find out more very soon!