Road to Camp Half-Blood

"OW!"

"AAAARGH!"

"SON OF A-!"

"OOF!"

With a grunt David sat up from the rocky ground rubbing his head and grinding his teeth in frustration. Sweat drenched his face, and his body was sore from multiple bruises. 'How is this happening?' He thought. 'I'm the son of Zeus for Olympus sake. I have a weapon of adamantine. By all rights I should be able to handle any demigod. Yet here I am, on the ground, getting my ass handed to me by a minor demigod. A blind one at that.'

But as his mismatching eyes observed his opponent standing casually and twirling his staff, David shook his head. 'I have no right to judge. Of course he can beat me. He had thousands or years worth of experience to draw upon. What do I have? Three measly years of basic training.' With a grunt David got back up and resumed a fighting stance. Robin gave him a nod of approval and attacked.

Two months had passed since they first met the Blind Ranger, two whole months of traveling together, over mountains and through forests passing near schools along the way, just in case. Suffice to say that it was not a wasted effort. Nana didn't lie, traveling with Robin proved to be very beneficial on their journey.

Their days were divided into two parts, one would be spent traveling, while the next day was dedicated to training. Robin drilled the two children from dawn to dusk, never easing up even when it was time to eat. As Robin would often point out, "Monsters do not wait or you to be ready."

David knew how to kill monsters, Robin showed him how to hunt them. David and Eve had faced several monsters in the past, Robin got them familiar with all of them through summoning. But they didn't just train physically, they were demigods so they both had unique talents. For David this was manipulation over air and electricity and for Eve it was control over darkness, shadows and creatures of the night. The children could already do basic lightning attacks and shadow travel so Robin helped them expand their abilities and strengthen them.

Day after day the children practiced and practiced while Robin foraged and hunted to ensure the group ate every day. Under Robin's harsh tutelage, David and Eve got better at killing monsters. It got to the point where they deliberately sought out monster dens to get more practice. David was glad to see Eve getting improving, the better she was able to protect herself the easier David could rest at night.

As time past, they learned more about their powers. David discovered that he could fly after stumbling into a ravine, but instead of falling to his death he noticed his fall slowed and was soon found himself suspended in the air. After their encounter with the Hellhounds, Eve took on a more assertive stance against them. David always found it amusing that Eve was timid in front of other people yet had no fear of creatures most people avoided such as skunks and racoons. David once joked that she could even tame a Tasmanian devil if she wanted. Hellhounds became no exception often taking a master role and summoning them to aid in fighting monsters.

When they weren't training to fight monsters, they were training to fight a different sort of opponent, the mortal type. Due to David's new weapon Robin taught him Wushu so he could take advantage of his weapon's full potential. At first it was pathetic, David couldn't go ten second without being knocked to the ground. Robin was like a leaf on the wind, his movements fluid and graceful almost like a dance, and that was not even counting on the staff. Robin's staff, which doubled as a white cane, was made of ironwood, by all rights it should not be able to stand up to the metal David was wielding. But in the hands of Robin it was like trying to deflect helicopter blades.

Still, he was improving, getting stronger, quicker, more agile. It took a weeks for David to learn how to block Robin's attacks and a couple more to finally land blows. But for every strike, David got 6 in return. He was no Robin but progress was progress.

David laughed bitterly as he continued to spar with Robin, he had learned more from him about monsters in two months than he had in his life.

"So how come you didn't escort us from the farm?" David asked, "why meet us in the middle of the Forest?"

"I travel all over the country," Robin replied, "monsters are everywhere I try to kill them off as much as I can so they can't harm other demigods. Satyrs usually contact me if they need assistance escorting ones with a strong scent. Recently I've been keeping an eye on two particular demigods residing in Las Vegas.

"I assume they're a special case to get your attention."

"Zeus and Hades have it out for each other, trying to kill each other's children. So I've tasked myself to prevent that from happening."

Thunder rolled across the sky at the mention of Zeus' name. David rolled his eyes, 'talk about hypersensitive.'

"Why?"

Robin stopped attacking and sighed, his face heavy, "because no one else will, and nobody can stop this endless stream of petty vengeance."

David stopped, making a note to keep an eye out for any half siblings and hopefully cousins in the future. In his musings, David found himself getting tripped by Robin's staff as it swiped his legs. David stumbled, but in a rare sight, he found his footing and avoided another hard landing."

Robin smiled slightly, "well done, you manage to stay on your feet that time."

"I'm learning," David shrugged. "Hopefully I it will be enough for when we reach out destination.

"We'll be there in four days," Robin assured him, "Once you're safely past the barrier I will depart to resume my hunt."

"You're not joining us?" Eve asked coming over to them concerned.

Robin shook his head, "The hunt never rests deary, In any case I have no place there."

"Why not?"

"Camp Half Blood is for the children of Gods, it's no place for the child of a Giant."

"Surely they will make an exception," Eve said trying to assure him as much as herself

Robin smiled sadly, "perhaps that can change but that day is not today."

The last few days went by as usual they trained more and killed some more monsters. David noticed that as they got closer to Camp, the attacks became more frequent. It was clear that hades was becoming more and more determined. Robin's training served them well and having Robin with them ensured that they were able to beat every attack. They even managed to eliminate a Cyclops den before they reached New York.

At last, after 10 weeks of traveling, they reach New York City. They bypassed the city entirely and headed straight for the forest in Long Island. Night had come as the trio headed deep inside. That's when David noticed a familiar blue light, heading towards it, he saw a glowing blue fruit incased in a green web of thin vines. David was familiar with these, Nana uses to top them on his cake for is birthdays. She always said they would help him grow strong. David was still skeptical about it but whenever he ate one he felt his weariness melt away. During their journey he actually found three.

David plucked the fruit from the ground and took a bite. David closed his eyes as the juices dribbled down his chin. He savored the flavour (Blue Rasberries) before swallowing. Well whether or not what Nana said was true, it was still good. He kept at it until there was only half left before returning to the group.

When he caught up Eve took notice, "where did you go?" she asked, You can't wander off when we're so close."

David smiled, "I'm sorry if I worried you, but I hope this makes up for if. "He handed her the other half of the fruit and Eve's eyes widened. She snatched it from his hand and gobbled it up. David laughed, Eve was usually ate properly but when it came to this mysterious fruit she got the cravings for it.

"It's a good thing these things aren't more common or you would get fa from them alone."

Eve glared and him and slapped his arm, "I should ask mom to give you a weeks worth of nightmares for that." She muttered, but her frown turned to a small smile. "But thank you for the fruit."

Further into the woods, they heard a commotion, moving towards the noise they saw two young girls and a satyr being chased by a hydra and a chimera. They looked at each other and then at Robin who waved his hand, "I'll let you take this one, time to see how much you've improved."

The duo nodded David rubbed dirt on his arms and Eve summoned two hellhounds. "I'll get the girls to safety," She said as she pulled out her meteor hammer.

"And I'll take care of the monsters," David said grinning as he summoned his swordstaff. He charged forward until he was close enough, he called out to the Chimera. "Here kitty kid kid, over here." The chimera turned and catching his scent forgot about the girls and focused on David instead. The Hydra decided to follow it's sibling's example and turned to David as well.

David stood next to a large tree, as the chimera lunged, he leaped behind it and circled around putting the tree between him and the Chimera's Lion head. The hellhounds Eve summoned were now attacking the lion head distracting it. The Chimera had its snake tail circle around intending to trap David in a pincer between the lion and the snake. David knew this would happen and had been waiting for the snake head as it came around the tree trunk. He then grabbed the headless tail and sent a charge of electricity into it. In it's shocked state, David was able to climb on top of the Chimera's back to cut off the goat head before driving the blade of his sword staff through the Lion head, killing it and dissolving it into dust.

Dealing with the chimera, David turned to face the hydra which struck at him with all nine heads. David kept his distance waiting for the right moment. as another head came forward, David lopped off the head, then charging his free hand sent a bolt of lightning into the stump cauterizing it and preventing new heads from growing. The Hydra tried to attack it with it's acid breath, but David used the wind the blow it away. He continued cutting off the hydra's heads and sealing the wounds until finally lopping off the middle head.

After David collected the trophies of the chimera and the Hydra, Robin approached him and led him to where Eve had gone. She was there tending the frightened girls near an archway that had the phrase CAMP HALF BLOOD in bold Greek letters. The younger girl was a freckled girl with wild blonde hair and dark blue eyes, the older one had flowing red hair and deep green eyes. David noticed that the older girl was severely burned on her left arm and Eve was bandaging it.

Upon seeing her, David rushed over and dropped to his knees in front of her. "Are you alright?" He asked. Eve nodded, and he turned to the girls, "what about you?"

The younger girl shook her head, "The Goat-lion burned Pamela badly. If you hadn't shown up, it would have-"

David placed a hand on her shoulder to silence her. "It's alright, what's more important is that you're both alive. He looked around where's the satyr you were with?"

"He went to get help," Eve explained as she turned back to the younger girl. "don't worry little one, your friend will be alright."

"You've done well David," Robin said approaching them , "I've done all I can for you and now this is where I must leave you."

David and Eve turned to their guide and friend for a final farewell.

"Good Hunting Robin," David said clasping the man's arm.

"We'll see each other soon David Roosevelt," Robin replied. Before he could turn away, Eve came up to him and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"Thank you," she whispered, "for everything."

Robin touched the spot where she kissed him and his cheek flustered before he replied with a nod and turning back the way they came. After he had disappeared into the trees, David picked up Pamela and carried her while Eve took the other girl by the hand and guided her into the Camp. As they did a group of teenagers armed with bows and spears approached them led by the satyr the girls were with.

"What's going on here?" One of them carrying a bow asked.

"This one is hurt." David said gesturing to the girl in his arms, "she needs medical attention immediately."

The kids nodded and gently took the girl from David's arms. The younger girl moved toward them apprehensively, as if thinking they were going to do something to her. But Eve rested a hand on her shoulder. "It will be okay," Eve assured her, "You're with friends now. I'm Eve Stellaris, this is David Roosevelt."

"I'm Helena Delgado," the blonde said, "and that's Pamela Clementine."