Chapter 6 I Teach Pietro How To Play Smash Bros

Leo took Jason and Pietro to the gaming setup on the Argo II. He'd set it up in the same area as the mess hall, across from the table. Comfy chairs made a circle around the TV. He put outlets all around the ship in order to plug things in, despite the fact that they really weren't supposed to have electronics, since monsters were attracted to them for some reason. To combat that, he'd made a part-celestial bronze antenna for the TV that wouldn't signal as many of them. He'd also brought a Wii to hook up. Why? Because Wiis were awesome. He'd debated between forcing everyone to play Mario Kart or Smash Bros, but eventually had decided the latter.

"What are we doing?" Pietro asked.

"Dude, do you not know what Smash is?" Leo said.

Pietro shook his head. Leo's jaw dropped.

"For shame," Leo said, "But, better late than never. It's not too hard. Just pick Kirby and spam buttons."

"...What?" Pietro said.

"Never mind. I'll show you once we get it set up."

Everyone else was already waiting. Well, except Hazel. She really did not do well on boats.

Pietro looked around and frowned, "Who's steering the ship?"

Leo shrugged, "I put Festus on autopilot. He'll let me know if anything comes up."

"Festus?"

"The bronze dragon head." Leo said.

"Right." Pietro didn't look any less confused, but didn't ask beyond that.

Leo turned on the Wii and clicked on Smash Bros. The screen loaded and he picked the tournament option.

1, 2, 3, 4…There were seven of them, right? Eight minus Hazel so that would be seven. He set the game to the correct number of players.

"Have you all done this before?" Pietro asked.

"Leo usually ropes us into this at least once when we're all together," Nico said, "So this is pretty typical."

"So I'm the only one who doesn't know what I'm doing?"

"Nah," Leo said, "Frank over here still can't figure out how to use a Smash Ball."

"Hey!" Frank yelled.

Leo ignored him, "Alright, let's do this!"

They then spent wayyy too much time on the character select. (Okay, that was mostly Leo's fault, but he couldn't decide which color Meta Knight should be. That was a major decision.)

The first pairing was Leo (as he was always player 1) and Nico. Nico fought bravely, but Leo, to put it nicely, completely demolished him. Annabeth beat Jason before any of them could blink. Seriously, that girl was scary. Then Pietro went up against Frank. Leo may have done that on purpose. (Frank tried his best, but he really just wasn't great at it, so he'd be an easy first opponent for Pietro)

Pietro figured out the controls pretty fast, although he was playing as Kirby as Leo had suggested, so most of it was him spamming buttons, but he ended up beating Frank.

Poor Frank. This was his opponent's first time playing and he still lost.

Piper then had to play against a CPU -she won- and that was the first round.

Leo then went up against Annabeth. Initially, he figured he was screwed. Annabeth won most of their tournaments. She knew the best strategies to take advantage of character's weaknesses and kick their butts.

But the fight surprised him. Annabeth didn't seem too interested in destroying him. Actually, she barely fought back. That was weird, and completely unlike her.

Of course, Leo didn't think about that at the time. He was just focused on winning.

"I did it!" He yelled as Annabeth lost her final life, "I overthrew the goddess!"

Annabeth stood up, "Good game, Leo. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go clean up my cabin." She left the room.

Nico also stood up, rather suddenly, "I also need to go do that." And followed Annabeth.

Ohhhh-kay. That was odd. Leo glanced over to see Pietro turn as pale as a ghost. He put his arm around his shoulder.

"Don't worry man," Leo said in a hushed tone, "He's not moving in on your girl or anything. He's swinging in the other direction," He hesitated, then added, "I think he has a boyfriend back at camp anyway."

Pietro looked at him, baffled, "No that's…that's not it. It's just…never mind."

The guy still looked really freaked out, "Dude, you look like you're gonna pass out!" Leo said, "Come on, let's get back to the game!"

"Yeah, alright." Pietro didn't look convinced, but he got ready for the next round.

Leo then cringed at every hit he took as he was brutally murdered by Piper.

Leo patted Pietro on the back, "Hey man, it's ok. You still beat Frank."

"I tried my best!" Frank said, "I just suck at this."

"We know, Frank." Leo told him, "But we still love you anyway." He did the little finger heart thing toward him. Frank raised his ring finger in return, which was quite vulgar coming from him.

"Gods, man," Leo said, "I'm just joking." Frank rolled his eyes, but he smiled afterward.

The time then arrived for the final match. Leo (Meta Knight) vs Piper (Samus). Piper was good, no doubt about that, but Leo with Meta Knight was near unstoppable. (except for Annabeth, of course. Why had she been so uncompetitive this time? That wasn't like her.)

After defeating Piper, he jumped up and shouted, "Valdez, Bad Boy Supreme, for the win!" He walked over to Piper and shook her hand, "Good game, Space Warrior."

Piper shook his hand halfheartedly, "Good game, Leo."

ooooooooo

Annabeth led Nico to her room and, after making sure they hadn't been followed, shut the door. Nico looked agitated. She wasn't too happy about purposefully losing a Smash Bros tournament, but Nico had said he needed to talk to her about something important.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Pietro," Nico said, "Something's off about him."

That didn't surprise her. She'd thought the same thing. He seemed nice enough on the outside, but some of his mannerisms didn't match what he was saying.

"I agree," She said, "Any ideas?"

"Unfortunately, no. I have some theories about him, but…" Nico shook his head, "I don't have enough evidence for any of them." He paused for a moment, then continued, "What do you know about Pietro? I know you did some research before we reached Equira."

"I couldn't find much," Annabeth admitted, "Even using Daedalus's laptop. He's a treasure hunter who became a recluse after too many people started asking him favors."

"Did you find anything about his appearance?" Nico said, "Because he looked nothing like that statue."

"I know," Annabeth said, "That's why I'm wondering if he's hiding something. The research I found said he was in his thirties."

Nico raised an eyebrow, "So he's not supposed to be the same age as you?"

He is the same age as you, thought Annabeth. She immediately shook that part of her mind away. No. Just because a random cute guy who was her age who also seemed really sweet showed up and started talking to her didn't mean she liked him or anyth-

"No!" Annabeth said, maybe a little too loudly.

Nico frowned, "What was that for? Keep your voice down."

"Sorry," Annabeth said.

"We don't want Pietro hearing us. What if he's a monster in disguise?"

Annabeth's brain continued to trail off, He is a little too good to be true…with those sea-green eyes…

Stop that, She told her brain. Why wouldn't it just stop? There were bigger things at stake here.

"We just need to keep an eye on him," Annabeth said, "Look for any other clues."

"Back when the ship crashed into the ocean, I thought I saw…" Once again Nico didn't finish his thought. Annabeth wondered what was going through his mind, "No, it doesn't matter right now. Just see what you can find out about him. I'll do the same."

Nico left Annabeth's room. She sat there for a moment, thinking. She didn't really believe in soulmates- that was a thing for stories and childish thinking. But she couldn't help but wonder…

No. It didn't matter. This Pietro guy was too suspicious anyway. Something was definitely off about him. Annabeth didn't really know what, but she was going to find out.

She grabbed a piece of paper and started writing out what she did know. She made three columns: things that the internet had told her, things Pietro had said, and things she'd observed with her own two eyes.

Daedalus's laptop had found that he was supposed to be mid-thirties, not twenty. When she'd talked to Pietro, he'd skirted around telling her about the adventures he'd supposedly been on.

What if Pietro hadn't actually done any of the things he'd said he had? Annabeth recalled reading the Harry Potter books as a kid. The one guy, Gilderoy Lockheart, had stolen artifacts and crazy stories from other people and claimed them as his own adventures. What if no one actually knew what he'd done because he'd never done any of it?

Or… what if this wasn't Pietro at all? But if it wasn't Pietro…

Then who the heck was on their ship?

Someone banged on her door. Before she could tell them to come in, Leo opened it.

Thanks for asking first, Leo, She thought.

Leo grinned, "Festus says we're at the entrance to the Sea of Monsters!"

ooooooooo

Percy was finally starting to understand Smash Bros.

At least, he thought he was. It hadn't been too difficult to beat Frank. He'd just hit him with the hammer and ground-pounded on him repeatedly until he'd died.

Of course, then he'd been beaten almost immediately by Piper. Maybe he didn't have as good of a grasp on it as he thought.

After the final round ended and Leo shook everyone's hand telling them "good game", Leo sat back down and held up the controller, "Who wants to play again?"

Before anyone could answer a loud creaking sound rang throughout the ship.

"What was that?" Percy asked.

"Hmm? Oh, that was just Festus. He says…" Leo paused to listen to his dragon friend, "He says to meet him on the top deck. I think we made it to the Sea of Monsters."

Percy and the others followed Leo as he made his way to the top deck. He stopped at Annabeth's room to get her, and she joined the group. Nico was already up there, brooding off into the distance. Seriously, what was with that guy?

Speaking of which, why had Nico and Annabeth gone off at the same time? They were the only two on the ship that seemed suspicious of Percy. Whatever they'd been up to could not have been good for him.

"Welcome to the Sea of Monsters!" Leo announced as he came above deck. He looked around, "And what are we supposed to be looking at?"

Nico pointed to a large cliff with a small passageway, "That."

Percy knew what waited for them at that cliff. He'd learned plenty about the Bermuda Triangle during his years in Atlantis. If he was right, Scylla would be hiding in her cave on one side of that passageway. On the other side, Charybdis would be lurking under the waves.

Leo turned and looked up at it, "Oh. Are we gonna have to go through that?"

"Unfortunately." Annabeth said, "It's the only way in."

"Well that won't be so bad," Leo said, "My mad steering skills can get us through no problem."

Nico scoffed, "As if that's the only problem we have to deal with."

"Nico's right," Annabeth said, "Two sea monsters guard the entrance."

At least these guys aren't completely oblivious to the dangers we're up against, Percy thought.

"That's shocking." Percy muttered. "Two sea monsters guarding the Sea of Monsters." Annabeth ignored him.

"So what do we have to watch out for?" Jason asked.

Before Annabeth could answer, Percy jumped in. He figured Pietro, being a treasure hunter and all, would know about things like this. The rest of the crew would probably expect him to jump in and offer suggestions.

"Scylla and Charybdis." He said. Everyone turned to him. Annabeth looked at him curiously. What had her and Nico been talking about? Percy continued more carefully, "Scylla resides in a cave near the top of the cliff, waiting to pluck sailors off of their ships."

"Well then we should probably go around that." Leo said.

Annabeth shook her head, "We can't. On the other side, Charybdis hides under the waves. She'll make a giant whirlpool and suck the whole ship in."

Percy winced at the image of that. He may have been able to breathe underwater, but he wasn't sure how well he'd survive a massive shipwreck.

"What if we hide below deck?" Piper suggested, "Then we go on the side with Scylla and pass by safely."

"Scylla's too smart for that," Annabeth said, "If she doesn't find anyone, she'll destroy the ship too."

"So we leave a sacrifice out," Nico said, "I vote Leo."

"Agreed." Frank said.

Leo gasped, offended, "Hey now! I don't wanna be monster food!"

Annabeth rubbed her nose, "Nobody's sacrificing anybody! Just give me a second. How did Odysseus get past these two…"

Percy was pretty sure even Odysseus hadn't gotten through without any casualties. He thought for a moment. How could they get past them? Without leaving Leo out as bait, of course.

Actually, there was one thing he could do. But he'd have to play the Pietro card and pray to his father that it would work. He'd also have to make sure no one was around to see it.

"I got this, you guys," He said. Annabeth looked at him, baffled, "Old treasure hunting secret. But I need you to all get below deck."

Nico raised an eyebrow, "And why should we trust you?"

"You're just gonna have to," Please do it, please do it, please do it, He thought.

"Welp, I trust ya, Pietro." Leo said, "Even if you don't know what Smash Bros is. Come on guys!" He waved for them to follow him.

Well, at the very least, Leo seemed to trust him. That kinda hurt, knowing what he'd have to do to him later. But for now, he'd take it.

"We don't have many options, Annabeth. I think we take his word on this," Jason said.

Eventually, Annabeth caved. The seven left him alone on the top deck with the sentient bronze dragon figurehead sailing toward his untimely death.

Fantastic.

Despite Leo's ridiculously complicated controls, Percy was able to figure out how to steer. He had a natural instinct for figuring out boats. He turned the ship toward the side of Scylla. The cliff loomed in front of him and he saw a cave jutting in near the top. Almost immediately a snake-like head came slithering out.

Percy took a deep breath. He had seconds at most before this thing ate him. Sea monster communication wasn't really his forte. He was a lot more in tune with horses and normal sea creatures, the ones in his dad's territory. This was Keto's ground. But he'd found that with a lot of concentration, he could figure out basic communication with the more monstrous things in the ocean.

He prayed to the gods that it would work now.

Scylla began shooting toward him. He tried to pick out any sort of intelligible speech, but he found nothing. Oh gods, he thought, this is how I'm gonna die.

At the last second he heard a slimy, female sounding voice ring through his mind, FFFOOOOOOOODDD!

"WAIT!" He yelled. Scylla stopped in her tracks and cocked her head, if sea monsters could do that.

What issss thissss? I sssmell Possseidon on you. Why keep me from my meal, ssspawn of the sssea god?

Percy looked up at the giant monster. Her head was just a little too close for comfort. "Please don't eat me!"

And why not?

He really hoped no one could hear what he was about to say, "We're looking for a lyre. I'm on a mission to steal it for Poseidon. With it, he could take over the surface world."

Did Percy really want that? Sure, Zeus had treated them all like shit for decades, but did he want the whole world to be flooded? Especially with his new friends?

Stop that, He told himself, They're not your friends.

Whatever. For now, he just had to say it to stay alive. He could think about the technicalities later.

And how doessss that concern me?

"You could be more than a guard dog," Percy said, "You could be recognized for the powerful monster you are."

Thissss… Scylla paused for a moment, Thisss pleassesss Sssscylla. But it'sssss not enough. You will sssstill die."

Crap. Crap, crap, crap. That was not what he wanted.

"What's your favorite food?" Percy asked hastily, "My dad could get it for you."

The flessssh of young demigodssss.

Percy laughed nervously, "Anything else?"

Scylla thought for a horrifyingly long moment. Percy could feel her nasty breath on his face. Then, finally, she spoke, I sssupossse fressh catfissshhh will do. We don't get many out here.

Percy clapped his hands together, "Perfect! I'll get my dad to get you a month's –no– a year's worth of them! That and you'll finally get recognized once I get the lyre back to my dad."

I sssupossse I won't eat you. Pleassure doing busssinesss with you.

Suddenly the boat started rocking. Percy looked over the side to see a large fin jut out of the water before sinking back down. Charybdis. Apparently she wanted to see what all the commotion was about. That wasn't good.

The boat started rotating slowly. Percy focused on the forming whirlpool beneath and tried to get it to flow the other way. The ship stopped spinning , but Percy kept glancing over the side to keep from any more mishaps.

That'ssss Charybdisss, Scylla said, I'll tell her to ssstop. Scylla turned away from Percy. He breathed a sigh of relief and nearly collapsed to the ground as he lost the connection. He hadn't realized how much energy that had taken.

Neither Scylla or Charybdis bothered him again. After sailing the Argo II a comfortably safe distance away from those two, he ran down and got the others, telling them it was safe.

"Dude, what did you do?" Leo asked as soon as he got below deck.

Percy shrugged, "A magician never reveals their secrets."

Nico continued side-eyeing him as the night went on. Percy did his best to ignore it.

That night, Percy sat in his cabin. So far, so good. He'd made it an entire day without too many issues. Two of the seven seemed wary of him, but other than that, all was fine.

Except, of course, how he was already losing his nerve.

Could he really betray these demigods? He'd asked himself that so many times over the past hours and still didn't know the answer. This was his first real mission from his dad; he couldn't screw it up.

But…

Gods, he'd only been with the crew of the Argo II for a day and he already felt closer to them than he had with anyone back home. What would the rest of the quest bring?

But if he didn't take the lyre back to his dad, then what? He could stay with these guys, but that would only last until they found out the truth. It was only a matter of time before-

A rainbow appeared in the center of his room. Percy jumped. His dad was Iris-messaging him again.

"Dad!" He said, then lowered his voice, making sure no one else heard him, "You can't just do that! What if you blow my cover?"

"Oh, I made sure you were alone first." He said.

"You can do that!?" Percy asked.

"Percy, if you knew the extent of my abilities your brain would explode," Poseidon said, "But anyway, how goes the quest? I see you've made it on the ship."

"Yep!" Percy said, keeping in mind to lower his voice, "We just made it past Scylla and Charybdis." He paused, "I may have had to use my powers to do that, but no one saw anything."

Poseidon smiled, "Well, that's all that matters."

"Also you owe Scylla a year's supply of catfish."

"Excuse me—?"

Someone knocked on Percy's door. Percy immediately swiped his hand through the picture of his dad, vaporizing it and cutting the connection. He knew it was late, and it definitely wasn't time for his watch shift. Who would need him at this time of night?

Unless they were under attack. Percy hoped not. One near-death encounter was enough for one day.

He opened the door and came face to face with Nico di Angelo.

"Pietro Mendoza," He said, without a hint of a smile on his face, "We need to talk."