Wait, I reincarnated as a WHAT?!
Chapter 2
-Percy-
"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Percy yelled as he was flung through the air, having tried testing out how his new body could let him manipulate water. The good news was that he was able to propel himself fast that way. that bad news? No brakes.
"Really Percy?" Wise Girl sighed, sounding both amused and exasperated as he eventually stopped via crashing, a new dent forming in his head.
"…Why don't I feel that?" he grumbled, reaching up a still somewhat misshapen hand to feel the dent in his skull, glancing back the way he came from.
"It's because of your skill 'pain nullification', that you acquired upon reincarnation." Wise Girl explained "Now that you've taken damage and lost a chunk of your body, your unique species skill of Self-Regeneration has now activated." As his skill spoke, he felt his body 'buff out' the dent on his head, putting him back to the way he was before.
"Huh…neat." He shook himself and was about to go back to exploring, and trying to find a way out, when a new voice filled the cavern, shaking dust from the ceiling.
"Can you hear me, small one?" the rumbling voice asked.
"Who are you calling small?!" Percy whirled around on instinct, pausing when he saw a gargantuan dragon behind a glowing barrier.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" the titanic reptile laughed, the sound booming in the enclosed space, "You are truly bold for a slime!" the beast leaned down, face as close to the barrier as it could, "Although, I must say, I don't remember seeing a slime as dark a blue as you before."
"I'm special." Percy sassed, not even batting an eye. The dragon was big, Typhon had been bigger.
"Hah! And you do not fear me at all! Still, how on earth would a slime of all things find themselves down in a cavern as inhospitable as this?" the dragon questioned as Percy gave the best approximation of a shrug that he could in his current state.
"Woke up here, don't really know how to get out." He admitted, not seeing much point in lying.
"Hmmm, I see." The dragon raised a clawed hand to its chin, "I shall offer you a deal, little slime. I shall tell you which direction to go to find the exit of this cavern. In exchange, you must swear to visit me again sometime."
"Visit you?" Percy blinked, not expecting that request.
"I have been sealed down here for close to three hundred years with nothing to do but be exceptionally bored." The dragon almost sounded like a kicked puppy at that.
"Sure, I can agree to that." Percy nodded, the terms not sounding horrible.
"Excellent!" the dragon straightened before seeming to strike a pose, for lack of a better phrase "than allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Veldora, the Storm Dragon. One of only four true dragons that exist in this world." Veldora finished by laughing hard enough to shake more dust from the roof of the cave. He was honestly starting to remind Percy of some of the kids and their sense of drama.
"Wait, this world?" Percy noted the important part of that sentence. He knew he'd reincarnated into another world but were such things common knowledge?
"Hmm, oh yes, I believe I see how it is." Veldora mused, leaning in to examine Percy closer "You are not from this world, are you? Still, I've never heard of a slime being summoned, only humans."
"Um…I reincarnated, actually. And I was human." Percy admitted as Veldora leaned back somewhat, clearly taken aback.
"Truly? It is very unusual for someone to come into this world that way." Veldora stated, "Although I do admit I find myself curious on how you died to achieve such a thing."
"Oh, my grandma threw a trident that impaled me through the gut." Percy shrugged, used to the family trauma and war after so many years of dealing with the gods and their bullshit.
"…And I thought my family was scary." Veldora was gaping at the admission, "Still, you are quite the Unique being. Most individuals are incapable of having their soul withstand traversing worlds for reincarnation. Most are brought her as summons, the rituals to bring them here being performed by kingdoms wishing to use them as weapons. A few fall into this world naturally. These beings, these otherworlders, possess unique skills upon their arrival, based upon their desires."
"That happened to me as I was dying!" Percy sat up, "I heard a voice that confirmed my dying thoughts and turned them into skills. I was thinking about my blood loss and hoping for a life where Monsters wouldn't want to attack me on sight, and was told that new body had been created for me."
"Hmm, I see. A monster body to fit in with monsters, and slimes don't even have blood so blood loss wouldn't become an issue." Veldora nodded, "Still, that doesn't explain why you are such a dark blue. Slimes of this world are an exceptionally light blue, like a clear sky."
"Um…I was told when I reincarnated that I wasn't a slime, I was a primordial slime." Percy put forward, wondering if that would make a difference.
"Primordial Slime you say?" Veldora sounded curious, "Now that's interesting. I've never heard of such a thing. It would explain how you're different from the other slimes I have seen before."
"I guess? I don't really know." Percy shrugged, "But anyway, back to you. What the hell did you do to get sealed away down here?"
"Oh, it's a grand story!" Veldora sounded genuinely giddy getting to share, "It was three hundred years ago. I might have…sort of…accidentally burnt town an entire town-"
"How is that an accident?!" Percy threw up his misshapen slime arms in exasperation, at least they were forming a more cohesive shape the more he practiced.
"So," Veldora continued, ignoring his interruption "of course someone naturally came looking to slay me."
"Naturally." Percy nodded, used to hearing of even worse actions given the gods he was related to.
"I also…might have underestimated my opponent just a bit." Veldora let out a sheepish huff "About halfway through the battle I started using my full strength. Yet I still lost somehow!"
"Sounds like a skill issue." Percy 'suggested' helpfully, Wise Girl sighing in the back of his mind.
"But they were powerful. Extremely, powerful." Veldora ignored the ribbing "The humans called her a Hero, blessed with divine protection." Percy winced at the mention of a Hero with divine blessings, looks like he wasn't out of that life completely "She used her unique skill to overpower me in battle before sealing me away using Unlimited Imprisonment!"
"I assume the rainbow bubble is her Unlimited Imprisonment?" Percy tapped it with a slime hand, the barrier not showing any give as he inspected it.
"It is indeed." Veldora nodded.
"And you've been stuck down here ever since that battle three hundred years ago?" Percy felt a bit of pity for the dragon. Three hundred years sealed away without company would suck. And while yeah, destroying a town wasn't okay, he'd forgiven and gotten along with gods who'd done worse before he met them.
"That is correct." Veldora slumped, his body sounding like rock cracking against rock with how stiff he was apparently was "I am so incredibly bored."
"Yikes." Percy grimaced before thinking about the situation. Veldora sounded genuinely pitiful like this, and he doubted the Dragon would risk getting sealed away again, "So, what are we going to do?"
"Do?" Veldora looked confused.
"About this unlimited imprisonment thing." Percy tapped the rainbow bubble, "I'd feel bad leaving any buddy of mine down here alone. Especially after they've been trapped for three hundred years."
"B-buddies?!" Veldora gaped, sounding both shocked but Percy could tell they were secretly excited at the prospect of having a friend even if they didn't act like it. A tsundere, just like Clarisse.
"Yep, friendship is inevitable, resistance is impolite, no take backs. You're stuck with me now." Percy grinned as Veldora barked out a short laugh.
"A bold slime indeed!" Veldora straightened, crossing his arms, "I'm willing to listen to any suggestions you might have. As it stands now, I only have another hundred years or so before my magic completely runs out." Percy grimaced at that. The imprisonment was centuries of solitary confinement while starving the prisoner to death slowly. It was a fucked-up thing to do.
"The leaking magicules must be why there were all those powerful herbs and ores back there." Percy realized, glancing back to where he'd first appeared after reincarnation, "Anyway, I do have one thing I can try right off the top of my head. Wise Girl, can you use Predator on the Unlimited Imprisonment please?" he reached out, touching the bubble as he felt his skill trying to consume the barrier before his own magic dispersed.
"The attempt has failed."
"Should have known it wouldn't have been that easy." Percy sighed, "Any suggestions Wise Girl?"
"Hey, don't just ignore me to talk to your own skill!" Veldora complained as Percy ignored the dragon.
"Analyzing unlimited imprisonment. Available analysis complete. Analysis of both sides of Unlimited Imprisonment must be completed to fully dispel barrier."
"Thanks, Wise Girl. Alright Veldora, I analyzed my side, but my skill Wise Girl says we need to analyze both sides to dispel it." Percy told the dragon.
"But I can't, when I was trapped in here all my skills were sealed away." Veldora protested.
"Then could you give me the data and have me analyze it?" Percy offered, not sure if the data could be collected without a skill.
"That would be doable, but it would take a long time." Veldora sounded nervous, probably thinking Percy wouldn't want to stick around in a cave for who knows how long.
"Suggestion." Wise Girl spoke up "Through use of the skill 'Predator', you could completely swallow Veldora and the Absolute Imprisonment, storing them within your skills pocket space while I analyze the exterior and Veldora works to break the interior. Veldora would be safe and would not be consumed by Predator if you do not wish for him to be."
Perking up, Percy shared the offer with Veldora whose eyes gained an excited gleam, "Hey, now that sounds interesting. Let's do it!"
"Alright, let's go! Preda-" Percy started before Veldora held up a hand.
"Wait!" Percy staggered in place at the dragon's shout, "Before we do this, I'd like to give you a proper name, and for you to give me one too. It will graft onto our souls that we are equals, something humans often refer to as a family name."
"But…I already have a name from my old life?" Percy tilted his head, "Perseus Jackson."
"Monsters in this world don't have names themselves, they have to be given a name by another. You are currently nameless, so me granting you a name will give you my divine protection and mark you as a Monster with power." Veldora shook his head before pausing, "And I'm curious, what does that first name mean? I've not heard any like it before."
"It means 'The Destroyer' in my people's language." Percy admitted as Veldora's eyes gleamed excitedly.
"Really?! That sounds awesome! I'm definitely giving you that as your first name again! Now come on, pick a family name for me! And make it a good one!"
"Alright." Percy could work with this tradition, "So, Veldora the Storm Dragon." He felt a bit of kinship there, given his father was the Storm Bringer, "Should probably connect to that somehow." He considered all the various words he had that were related, "Thýella!" he declared "It means 'Tempest' in the same language as my first name."
"Veldora Thýella." The Dragon mused, "Veldora the Tempest! Ooooooh, I like that! Now, I declare you to be Perseus Thýella! Perseus the Tempest!" at those words, golden light shone from Percy's body as he felt a stirring down in his very soul, like the name itself was being permanently engraved upon it.
"Holy shit!" Percy gasped at the rush, Veldora looking smug "Alright brother, let's get you out of there. Time to bust you out of that unlimited imprisonment. Go, PREDATOR!" at his declaration, his body expanded, covering the bubble as he absorbed it bit by bit. Looks like his new life in this new world was off to one hell of a start.
-Annabeth-
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HIS SOUL NEVER SHOWED UP IN HADES?!"