When I got back, I was honestly expecting Piper to be asleep. Well yeah, I guess I had no idea how long I'd been down there, but it was already nighttime when we'd gotten to Santa Monica, and she'd been tired already, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume she'd be asleep.
That didn't end up being the case, though.
"You're back!" Piper said tiredly as I walked in. She was wearing a fluffy bathrobe with the hotel logo on it. Currently, she was watching some tv and eating a bag of sour cream and onion Lays. "How'd your meeting with your uncle go?"
"Not the best, I guess," I said truthfully, plopping down on the floor next to her. I handed her the bag of food. "Well, I mean, I don't know. It was alright. He just sort of tore into me about my recklessness and all that, but then he gave me some Chipotle to bring up here."
"Mm, your classic win-win situation," Piper said sarcastically as she pulled out a small carton of chips and salsa. She opened the container of salsa. "Not that I'm complaining. You get grilled by your uncle and some friends, and I get quality chips and salsa. We should do this more often."
"Sure. Maybe next time I'm going to be put on trial, I'll have them bring Burger King, instead," I laughed. She was adorable. "And, by the way, some friends? Piper, the other people were gods. It wasn't, like, some half-dead skeletons or something."
She looked at me with wide eyes, turning her attention away from the television, which was playing Avatar. She almost dropped the food. "Wait, what? Who was it?"
"Uh, my uncle, as you know, my dad, my aunt Hestia, and your mother," I listed off, leaning back into the bedframe. "In case you couldn't tell, that girl from earlier was your mom."
Piper's face soured again. I felt like I was missing something important here. "Ugh, I'm not surprised. And, the whole being in our room- what was that whole thing about?"
"Eh, beats me," I shrugged, seamlessly lying to her. I may not be the smartest person around, but even I knew it would be a bad idea to mention the truth to Piper at the moment. "They're Olympians. They all have their little quirks."
"I guess," She said uncertainly, munching on her chips. We sat in silence for a few moments. "Speaking of which, how are you doing? About tomorrow, I mean."
"It doesn't matter how I feel, really," I said truthfully. I felt scared, for some reason. Somewhere along the way, I guess I forgot I was still a kid. A kid being forced to fight one of the greatest warriors of all time. "There isn't any room for error. If it doesn't work, I die. My mom dies. You die."
"I don't want you to think like that," Piper told me seriously. She put the chips down and grabbed my hand. "You can do this. I know you can."
Her hand felt really warm in mine. I looked at the television just in time to see Aang face down the Fire Lord.
"I'm not letting anyone down," I said seriously, sounding a lot braver than I actually was.
Piper leaned slightly, her head resting on my shoulder. Her face glowed orange as the fight unfolded in front of us. "I know, Percy. I know."
Daybreak came much sooner than I would've liked. I think you're probably assuming I mean, like, early morning, but no. The second the sun started to rise, my eyes snapped open.
I wasn't sure if this was magic or not, but I woke up fully rested. I didn't even remember having any dreams. Odd.
The plan was simple. Well, simple in theory, at least. I was going to go down to the pier to "pray" to my dad. Ares was going to walk up to me, try to be my friend, and then try to kill me. After that, I was going to invoke the rite of battle and sit back and let my uncle rock his shit.
Simple enough.
I rolled out of bed.
|| You have slept in a bed, and your HP and MP have been restored 100% each. All ailments and negative status effects have been cured. ||
Thanks, game. You wouldn't happen to have some sort of overpowered ability that would let me demolish Ares on my own and let me survive, would you?
Yeah, I didn't think so.
I started to get ready robotically.
I offhandedly wondered if my dad or Hades or someone should've given me armor or something. I mean, I had a sword, but was that really going to be able to help me out if I got skewered like a kebab?
Ah, well. What's going to happen is going to happen.
A few minutes later, I gently opened the hotel room door. I peered into Piper's room for a moment as I was leaving, just to make sure she was asleep. Sure enough, I saw the little tufts of brown hair sticking out from under the covers.
I felt bad.
You see, I sort of promised her I'd tell her before I left, but at the moment, I wasn't really too concerned about her being mad at me. I had a whole lot to deal with already. Plus, this whole quest wasn't really the best way for her to be introduced to this world, let alone me.
She's really nice, but I don't know that much about her. I don't really even know if we're friends. If anything, we've just sort of been existing together, our fates tied together by the machinations of the gods. There's nothing tremendously wrong with that, I just don't see myself getting to know her too well until I get to camp, and I can actually talk to her without fear of us both dying.
Well, hopefully.
I got in the elevator. Every movement I made filled my entire being with dread. I had this weird, numb feeling. I don't even know how to describe it. Everything just felt wrong about this.
I kept analyzing every move I made in the last few days. Should I have taken my uncle's deal, or should I have told him where to shove it and move on? Should I have lied to Piper? What about Annabeth? Would she be pissed when I got back to camp?
Ugh, should I have had a burrito for dinner? What if I had to poop in the middle of my fight?
A few minutes and a few dozen thoughts passed, and I exited the hotel, making haste toward the pier. No one was on the streets yet but the hobos, and most of them were snoring away on street benches.
One woman looked up at me. I honestly sort of jumped- I hadn't even seen her move.
"In a rush?" She asked, her hand closed around a glass bottle. It looked freakishly yellow- like someone took the color of gold and squeezed it into a bottle and shook it up.
It was probably pee.
"Yeah," I answered, slightly let out of breath. Was I running? I didn't even remember that…
"Not often you see a little munchkin like you running around," She replied. "Especially at this time of the day."
My [Mana Detection]felt a little pinprick of vibration from the woman, causing me to examine her a little closer. Just who was she?
Honestly, it was hard to tell. Like a lot of the hobos here, she was completely wrapped up in a hoodie to protect herself from the chilly Santa Monica nights. A scarf covered the bottom half of her face, too.
"I have something important that I need to do," I answered her carefully. Should I use my powers on her? I wasn't going to forget about last night- I wouldn't be reckless again if I could help it. Maybe I should…
"Oh, I know, young one," The woman replied, glancing up at me. She waved the bottle a bit, and I swear it made a light buzzing sound. "You have a battle awaiting you."
Yep, I'm using it. Black letters twisted to life on top of her.
[NEMESIS]
[GODDESS OF BALANCE, RETRIBUTION, AND REVENGE]
[LVL]: ~200
[HP]: 1,000,000,000+
[MP]: N/A
?
Looks like my skills have improved a little bit. I could kind of get a gauge on her power, unlike before, where it felt more like a guess than anything.
Honestly, I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, seeing as now I have a pretty good idea about how outclassed I truly am, but eh. Knowledge is knowledge. You can never have too much.
"I do," I said, noticing her golden eyes looking at me intently. I was willing to drop the charade fast- I had places to be.
"I will be watching," Nemesis said, her eyes getting a little brighter. It seemed like telling the truth was the right move, "I enjoy watching underdog events…even if I know the outcome."
I swallowed. "You know what happens?"
"Well, naturally," Nemesis said, the corners of her cheeks raising a little. "I'm the goddess of balance and vengeance, am I not? Two things that have quite a lot to do with you, Perseus."
Aw, man. Why couldn't they all just call me Percy, or Mr. Jackson, or something? Perseus made me feel all wonky. It reminded me of some Greek warrior, chiseled and tan. Not some pale twelve-year-old who'd only known about his demigod status for the better part of two weeks.
"Any advice?" I tried, pushing my luck. I mean, she was here, right? Maybe she'd give me a little bit of advice just to spice things up for her pleasure?
"Advice? Do not take my interest in you as patronage, young demigod," Nemesis said, chuckling. I frowned as she swished her bottle around, the molten golden rising up and down. "I will admit, I enjoy tearing down the proud and powerful, and there are none who deserve tearing down like the God of War. Still, I must warn you that you will not suffer undeserved success. Good luck does not exist. True success requires sacrifice."
Well, I mean, I have a luck stat, but sure. A part of me wondered how much her blessing or powers could mess with the stat, but I put that thought out of my mind for now.
"Okay, thanks," I said, even though that didn't really tell me much. The other hobos were waking up at the sound of our conversation. A few of them started staring at me, and I felt a little uncomfortable. "I should probably go."
"Mm," Nemesis said dismissively, curling back up on her bench and closing her eyes. "Try not to die too quickly."
Okay, the gods were definitely weird. Out of all of them, my dad and uncle were the most human-like, but man, some of them were just kooky.
What even was the point of that whole encounter? Was she just trying to make herself known to me? Maybe she was working with him and trying to get in my head?
Ugh, whatever. One problem at a time.
The pier wasn't that far of a walk. I gazed up longingly at the carnival rides and Ferris wheel for a second. I could imagine it at night, with the bright, flashing lights and little kids running around with their parents.
As I stepped into the cold water of the Pacific, I felt tears form in my eyes.
Maybe once this was all over, my mom and I could come to a place like this for a night.
Hades could foot the bill and give us the presidential suite again. She wouldn't have to worry about paying for anything, and we'd just enjoy our time together. Afterward, she wouldn't even worry about Gabe- I'd take care of the bastard. She could go to school, meet a nice guy, and settle down. She'd have the life she always wanted.
I just had to get through this.
My happy thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a loud motorcycle. My eyes caught sight of it as it roared down the street I just walked through- not that it was that hard. It was the size of a baby elephant, for Zeus' sake.
The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather-but leather that looked like ... well, Caucasian human skin.
The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face I'd ever seen- handsome, I guess, but wicked-with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights. The weird thing was, I felt like I'd seen his face somewhere before.
"Lord Ares," I said, stepping out of the water. I slightly bowed my head. "To what do I owe this honor?"
Ares grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "Poseidon's kid. You don't look like much."
Something changed. I couldn't put my finger on it, but the air in front of me got a little…hazy. My [Mana Detection] was telling me that the entire beach was being saturated with insane amounts of mana, but how was that possible?
Was he about to just nuke Santa Monica to get my dead body?
"What can I help you with, Lord Ares?" I said, ignoring his comment.
Come on, come on…
"Yeah, don't waste my time, punk," Ares replied. The explosions behind his glasses got brighter. "I'm not stupid."
Wait, what?
"Do you really think I'd expect you to walk on over here and 'pray' to your dad who's only been in your life for a week?" Ares said, smiling harshly. He pointed a gloved hand at himself. "I'm the God of War, punk. You're gonna need a better strategy than that. Not that strategy would've helped you anyway…."
"What are you talking about?" I growled out, dropping all pretenses of formality. Ever since he walked over to me, bad feelings started boiling in my stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness. I wanted to hit a wall. I wanted to pick a fight with him.
"Heh," Ares said, crouching down to the ground and knocking three times. Not like, normal knocks, mind you. Each knock sounded like an elephant running into a bronze wall. The ground shook a little each time, too. "You'll see. Almost feel bad for you, ya know. First Luke betrayed you by telling me where you were headed…and now…"
"Shut up and fight me!" I screamed. I wanted to rip Ares' head off.
"No, no, little cousin," Ares said to me mockingly. "I'm not going to be the one you're fighting."
My stomach dropped as the ground next to him began to tear open. A monstrous fissure rocked the beach, and a gaping hole appeared. Ghostly screams and cries of pain echoed from within. Skeletal hands started grasping at the surface.
No…
"Hello, nephew," Hades said in a smooth tone as he hopped out, smiling pleasantly. He looked at me happily, as if seeing me was making his entire day. "How's it hanging?"
I felt like the air from my lungs had been expelled forcefully. Hades' aura of hopelessness slammed into me, much stronger than last night.
I dropped to my knees. "But…but…"
"Oh, don't be stupid," Hades said, dismissively shaking his head at me. He fist-bumped Ares. "You think I really wanted to help? After everything Olympus has taken from me? Pah! Foolish, to say the least- not that I'm surprised. You played right into my hands. All of you. You all should've been much, much more careful…"
The waves lapped underneath me. The salty ocean began to churn. I felt it rise to my nails, encasing my fingertips.
"No, instead, your foolish father gave me your mother…she of course, is dead," He continued, pacing around the beach, gleefully jumping up and down. A small smirk formed on his face. "And now, your turn's here! Yay! Be a good boy for me and just take it, will you? Make it easy for me. Tell you what…I'll let you and your mommy into Elysium if you don't fight back."
Two skeletal warriors emerged from the hole as well. One of them wore a Trojan-style helmet and carried a spear, while the other carried a gigantic Warhammer.
My insides felt knotted, burning painfully. I felt like a drank a whole gallon of bleach. "How…why…"
Hades pointed at me. The warriors grunted and began walking toward me at a slow pace. "Don't worry. We'll get to talk a whole lot after this is over. Goodbye…nephew."
I heard the warriors get closer. The tide was up to my waist now, twisting around me like a tornado.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the blow to come. It didn't even matter anymore. My mom was gone, and the bolt was never going to be returned- the world was quite literally about to end.
And there was nothing, nothing I could do. All I had to do was close my eyes and wait…
"Percy!" A distressed voice screamed from by the road. I felt a push against my mental shields. My eyes snapped open- I recognized that voice!
It was Piper!
"Piper?" I asked incredulously, looking up. Behind Ares' motorcycle, she was running towards the beach.
As she got closer, I noticed she had tears rolling down her face. Piper stopped at the railing of the beach. "What are you doing? Snap out of it! Can't you see what he's doing to you?"
Snap out of what? I looked back at my uncle, only to find that his face looked fake, almost as if it had been molded out of clay.
Wait, what? How did I not notice that?
"He's using the helm on you!" Piper screamed again, gripping the Minotaur horn and holding it in front of her, her hands shaking. A few more shaky breaths racked her body. "Please…don't give up…"
I couldn't even imagine what she was seeing...but she fought through it for me. She fought through the fear just to warn me, even though she couldn't defend herself. She could've died…
Anger started building in my gut. I activated [Mana Manipulation] and let out a monstrous ring of pure energy towards the fake Hades and warriors.
It rammed into them, causing them to shake and explode forcefully.
The skeletons and my uncle disappeared into a fine black mist. A strong gust of wind blew in from the west, and the mist scattered throughout the beach.
Ares tsk-ed, holding a ski cap-the kind bank robbers wear-and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.
"Nice job, punk," Ares scoffed. He waved his hands, and a blazing wall of fire erupted around the whole pier. "You didn't die. I was kind of hoping you would but, eh, you're not the priority right now. She is. I knew she'd come for you."
"Aphrodite is going to hate this," Ares swung a huge baseball bat off of his shoulders. "Thanks for the help, kiddo. I'll kill your little girlfriend here first, and then come for you. Deal?"
"Ain't no way she'll have any power left after another loss," He started to slowly walk towards her, whistling a jaunty tune. Ares began to sing in a deep voice, "How sweet it is to be loved by you, yes, baby, oh…"
I felt frozen in place. I almost wondered if I was subconsciously using [Time Dilation] but the meter wasn't dipping at all. I just couldn't move.
Is this what Nemesis meant? True success requires sacrifice.
Was Piper going to have to die just so I could get my mom back?
I swallowed, looking at Piper. She was now on her knees and sobbing uncontrollably. The minotaur horn was stuffed into the sand, almost as if she'd tried stabbing something.
All those thoughts I'd had this morning about how we weren't friends yet, and how I didn't really feel like we had a meaningful connection...despite that, she'd come to rescue me.
This wasn't the first time, either. Even when I fought the Chimera, she was willing to fight by my side. Maybe I'd misjudged our relationship this whole time.
"Please…" I heard her whisper.
The decision was easy.
I loved my mom but…I'd never let an innocent person die. I couldn't.
I looked back down. The water was twirling around my shoulders now. I looked back even further, towards the endless ocean in sight.
Ares thought he could control me…bend me to his will…and he almost had. He'd made me give up. Honest to Zeus, I was prepared to sit back and let him end me right there when I thought my mom died.
Really, though?
Everything I'd fought for, everything that I achieved- was I really going to let this overgrown brat of a god take it from me?
The water coalesced around me, forming a holographic outline of a man. It slid around my neck, and onto my head. A little stream moved forward from under my shirt, connecting into a helm around my face.
No.
I was not.
Although I was covered in water and standing in the surf, a fire burned at my feet. It rolled around my watery ankles. Steam started to form, escaping from around my shoulders with a shhhhh noise.
Ares was going to get it.
- 270 [MP]!
- [5%] chance to blind, stagger, cripple, or bleed!
- ((.2 x 34) +34 x100)) + (100 x 20) = 6080 [HP]!
The beach disappeared around me. This was easily faster than last time. My surroundings didn't even blur- I just disappeared from the surf and reappeared in front of Ares, twisting and rotating in place like a ball of pure destruction.
Flames licked the ground underneath me. I looked up and saw Ares through the watery armor I had on.
Ignoring the sense of vertigo that exploded around my head like fireworks, I lashed out. Twin strands of fire and water shot out of my body, twisting into one gigantic, multi-colored whip.
It lashed forward impossibly fast, smashing into Ares' face.
"Argh!" Ares screamed out. It forced him to scale back a little. Honestly, I don't think he was expecting me to be able to move after that whole ordeal.
I could feel my blood roaring in my ears. "I'm going to kick your ass."
As I landed on the ground, I took Piper into my arms. "It's going to be alright, Pipes."
Piper nodded numbly, closing her eyes. I gently walked over to the flames and pulled out my hand. A torrent of water rushed out of it, dimming the flames directly in front of me.
I placed her outside of the flames and walked back in, facing Ares with a growl.
"You're going to pay for that, punk," Ares snarled at me.
I didn't even reply. The anger kept building in my gut. I felt like if I didn't attack him here and now, I'd explode into a million tiny pieces. I started to walk towards him, his defeat burning into my mind.
Three gigantic blue words came to life in front of me.
|| Limit Break activated! ||
AN: Well! I hope you guys don't hate me too much for that cliffhanger…I'm excited to see what you guys thought. By popular request, I've changed the gamer page to a more visually pleasing format…please let me know if that's what you wanted.
Another big thank you to all of you- at the time I'm writing this, TFOAC has broken 13k views- that's insane.
Your support really does mean a lot to me. Thank you, guys.
Marsolino: Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. As of right now, anyway.
Guest: Thank you! I'm going more of a "be careful while dealing with the supernatural" angle on it, but I like your thoughts!
Big Booty Bitch: Ya know, usually, I don't answer random reviews like that, but your name made me laugh, so here you are.
Posaitan: I aim to please.
Rangle: See, I agree with you, which might be surprising. I really do agree with you. While I find it cool to no end that Percy has these powers, he's dealing with four people who could literally erase him from existence. Furthermore, he's twelve. Twelve. At the age of twelve, you aren't going to find many kids capable of hiding things from their parents, let alone multi-dimensional beings with incredible destructive power. Having a "strong will and getting easily pushed around" doesn't happen overnight, especially when you take into consideration that the people in question are deities.
SpartanBoy: I agree. I'm trying to find a sort of middle ground, so I hope I can soon.
XenonDark: Don't worry, I didn't take it for hate. Your review was really nice, and I'm glad that the one scene didn't ruin the whole story for you. See, like I said before, I agree with you- I do. I want nothing more than Percy to gain access to some unseen power, and absolutely demolish everyone around him. I want him to outsmart every single opponent and never fold in the face of danger. Believe me, no one wants those things more than I do. There has to be a balance though. My "game", so to speak, is going to stray from most of the other Gamer!Percy stories, and I'll always stand by that. The power crawl will be slower, but in turn, more rewarding. As of right now, he's just a kid who got access to insane powers. Someday, he will be the strongest, smartest…etc. Someday, though. He'll have to work hard to reach that. Even his Limit Break isn't going to guarantee a win…or even survival.
Allhailthesith: It was applied in already!
kyuubi7: Thank you! Honestly, yeah, hit my PMs. I'm always open to talk about that sort of stuff.
Yesirsski: I agree completely. He isn't going to be too OP too fast…think of it like an anime. Naruto, for example, always had potential, but it took a while for him to become Kage-level, right? I'm going for that.
Just a fan of fics: Yes, it does! He's maturing much faster than a normal human.
Also- I'd like to take a moment to address the current state of the world. I live in America, so I have been significantly affected by the injustice that has occurred. I've never used this as a political platform, and I won't be starting now, but, look out for each other. Be careful. Stand up for what you believe in. Stay safe, stay healthy. That's all.
See you soon.
-Maroon
EDIT (4/20/21): Again, not much to change. Some visual changes for the game, updated damage numbers, and a slight change in how Percy recognizes and acknowledges his relationship with Piper.
EDIT (2/27/22): Visuals!
EDIT (10/24/22): Visuals, grammar, and some dialogue.