So, I did promise to upload the sequel to my first story, Champion of the Sun, and I always keep my word. In the last few days I wasn't even sure if people actually want to read the sequel, the number of hits for Champion of the Sun got higher every day, but no one wanted to Review whatsoever. It's hard to find out whether it is worth it to work on this sequel without anyone telling me whether you liked oder disliked the first story. But meh, I promised a the sequel, so here it is. The events of this story will begin a bit before the beginning of Sea of Monsters. Like the last story it will follow a slightly different storyline, but most canon events will still happen, but in a different way.
For all those who have not read any of my stories before, this is a sequel. Some things might not be understandable if you have not read Champion of the Sun before. So you should start with that story first.
For all those who have come back to read the sequel, welcome and enjoy the show...
Percy was running, running as fast as he could in a vain attempt to escape his pursuer. He couldn't keep the smirk off his face, since he clearly enjoyed the thrill of the chase, though this time he was the hunted and not the hunter. But this way the boredom in Camp Half-blood became at least a bit more bearable.
He had to dodge several other campers, as he ran past the big campfire, which was still burning calmly. He winked at the small girl who tended to the fire, receiving a benevolent smile in return. Most others either didn't see the girl or simply ignored her, but Percy knew better. He sometimes talked to the girl when no one was around and often got valuable advice from her. But right now he did not have the time to chat.
"Jackson! Come here and fight you coward!" He heard the angry yell coming from somewhere behind him. But he had a good head-start.
Soon he could hear the distinct sound of hammering that constantly came from the forge. He could already see the fires and the Hephaestus' Campers. Those kids could always be found there, tinkering around, creating new weapons and trinkets, one more crazy than the other.
Not long after he had arrived, Percy had already formed a camaraderie with the children of Hephaestus. They were extremely curious about his sword and he in return was curious about any trinkets that would make his fights easier. Though he was still trapped inside the camp, Percy knew that this wouldn't last for ever. He knew that sooner or later Apollo would get him out of here... or maybe not.
Maybe Apollo was still slightly miffed about the prank Percy and Hermes had played on him a month ago. But Percy knew it was worth it. He got at least a small revenge on Apollo for getting him into trouble all the time and Hermes got a nice distraction. The Messenger of the gods was still worried about his traitorous son, even though he wouldn't openly admit it.
But all of this didn't matter now, Percy still had to run. He was in no mood to fight right now. Maybe a shortcut right through the forge would deter his pursuer from following. So he ran right into the forge, jumping out of the way of campers with searing hot crafting materials, avoiding anvils and any other possibly dangerous places in the forge. Luckily the Hephaestus Campers are used to this by now and managed to avoid him just in time.
That was until a large hand grabbed Percy and pulled him to the side. Any other kid in the camp would be worried by the sight of the boy, who stood in front of Percy now, but the son of Poseidon merely smirked, just like Apollo would do in the same situation. Before him stood a large, dark-skinned boy with hands like catcher's mitts. Charles Beckendorf, the current counselor of the Hephaestus cabin looked quite imposing, with his muscular build and seemingly permanent scowl. But to Percy he was just a good and loyal friend who was not very confident around most people. A fault that all children of Hephaestus shared.
"Hey, Beckendorf. What's up?"
"Percy, I told you that no one is allowed to run inside the forge. It is too dangerous." Beckendorf scolded lightly. Truth be told, he had long given up on Percy following this rule. Percy had only been here for less than three months, but it was obvious that it was easier instructing everyone to watch out for him, instead of getting Percy to not run through the forge like a madman.
"I won't do it again." Percy said, rolling his eyes. He felt like a small boy, being scolded by his older brother for doing something really stupid. "But... Beckendorf, can you do me a favor?"
The older boy sighed, knowing full well where this would lead. "Where is she?"
"Jackson! Fight me, dammit!"
"Can't you just fight her and get this over with. It's not like she can beat you at the moment." Beckendorf said.
"But its more fun this way."
"Fine, run along, I'll buy you some time." Beckendorf conceded.
"Thanks buddy, I owe you one." Percy said, before he started running again.
"More than one, Percy, many more..." The son of Hephaestus muttered dejectedly as he saw Clarisse come his way. This was so troublesome.
Percy meanwhile continued on his path, making his way towards the Big House now. Beckendorf would buy him enough time to get away. Clarisse would soon loose interest in hunting him. And she wouldn't search for him near the Big House. Because of Mr D's dislike of him, Percy only went to that house when it was absolutely necessary.
Chiron had just left the Big House, walking slowly towards the archery range to watch over the lesson of the camp's newest arrivals. He expected nothing bad, when suddenly a certain demigod ran past him as quickly as his feet would carry him.
"Good morning, Chiron." Percy yelled, before disappeared again.
Chiron could only watch, as Percy disappeared in the distance, until he finally vanished near the lake. The Centaur shook his head in consternation, worried about the possible consequences of whatever Percy had done today. When he saw Clarisse coming from the same direction as Percy, he knew that the boy had at least done nothing more than skip his spars with Ares' most belligerent daughter. But the consequences of that could still mean trouble for the camp. Clarisse would tear down anything in her way, until she got Percy.
But the son of Poseidon had finally resorted to his last way of escaping. He jumped head first into the lake. On the bottom of the lake he was absolutely safe from all other campers. No one else would be able to stay down there for as he long as him. But there was one downside to this. Naiads. They would always come to him, when he got close to lake. Sometimes they tried to pull him into the water, just for the fun of it. To them a son of the sea-god was extremely exciting.
And of course Apollo had to make some very inappropriate comments about his champion and his group of nymph fan girls, that only increased the fervor of the Naiads. The demigods at camp knew the Naiads as terrible flirts, but for Percy it was even worse.
And not a minute after he had entered the lake, the Naiads had already seen him and swam his way. Maybe he should have just fought Clarisse, instead of taunting her and starting a goose chase through the camp. Oh well, it was too late now.
But moments before the Nymphs would have reached him they stopped with a fearful look on their faces. Seeing them like this made Percy only more nervous. There was only one person that visited the camp, who would frighten them like this.
"Perseus! Why is that every time I come here for your training, I have to search the whole place for you."
Percy gulped, before he turned around. "Good morning, brother... nice day, isn't it?" Behind Percy swam Triton, in his normal form with two tails instead of legs. His greenish skin made him look even more menacing in the dull water of the lake. As usual the godly son of Poseidon wore his armor and had his trident clutched in his hand.
"You are late for your training. Again." Triton spoke calmly, but he managed to have the effect that it sounded like he promised the worst pains imaginable with every single syllable. "If you continue to slack off like this, then I see no use in continuing your training at all. I warned you not to bring shame to our family, but you still continue with this undignified act of childishness."
"I'm sorry, Triton... I won't do it again..." Oh how Percy hated being scolded like this. Apollo never did it and he couldn't really remember whether his mother did it either. His memories of her had become few in number and even those few that remained were hazy at best. It was his greatest regret that he was slowly forgetting about his mortal mother, but there was nothing he could do about it.
"And you?" Triton turned towards the Naiads now, venting his bad mood on them. He knew it wouldn't be good to be angry with his brother, it would only alienate the boy from the rest of the family. And Triton knew that his mother wouldn't want that. So the Naiads had to endure his wrath. "Do none of you have any shame at all? Get lost you hussies." The naiads fled as quickly as they could, much to Percy's amusement.
"So... to the beach?" Percy asked after some moments in silence. But Triton did not answer, instead he raised his trident and pointed it at Percy. "Oh shit..." Triton created a stream of water, that shot at Percy. Percy felt as if he had been hit by truck, as he had been hit by the stream. Only barely he managed to summon his sword to block Triton's next attack. One thing was for sure, Triton was one hard teacher.
Ariadne looked decidedly bored, as she trotted after Micheal, her older brother. She and her siblings had spent the entire morning at the archery range, following their favorite pastime. Everything was nice and quiet, until they saw the commotion that Percy had caused on his mad escape. She had laughed at first, when she saw that, knowing full well that Percy was simply playing with the daughter of Ares. But her good mood wouldn't hold for long.
Not much later the children of Aphrodite joined Apollo's kids at the archery range for their training. Tutoring the other campers in archery was one of the duties of the Apollo cabin and this day it the turn of the Aphrodite cabin to be taught. And that was where Ariadne's day turned bad.
"You really shouldn't have done that, Ariadne. Chiron will be very disappointed." Micheal said, as he led his sister towards the Big House, where he expected Chiron to be.
"Oh come one. That bitch had it coming. And it wasn't even intentional."
"Not intentional? You shot an arrow at her." Michael looked incredulously at Ariadne.
"It was an unfortunate accident."
"You hit bullseye on that strange embroidery on her skirt! This wasn't a lucky shot, you took aim."
Ariadne merely shrugged. "It mistook her large ass for the target. No one should run across the archery range during an ongoing training session."
"She went to fetch her arrows." Micheal really didn't know what to do with his sister. He didn't know whether Ariadne disliked the children of Aphrodite because of the many years she had spent with her aunt, Lady Artemis, who saw Aphrodite as the crass opposite of everything she believed in, or whether Ariadne just had a problem with that girl. Drew wasn't very famous with most campers... but this went too far.
Micheal was lucky, when he saw Chiron coming their way. "Great, now I get a long lecture..." Ariadne muttered.
But before Chiron could reach them something else happened. First they heard a loud splashing sound, then a scream. Before anyone knew what had was happening the source of both sounds crashed onto the ground next to the two Apollo campers.
"Shit. Why does he have to hit so hard all the time..." Percy said, as he rubbed his hurting behind. "He's worse than Ares sometimes."
"Training with your dearest brother again?" Ariadne asked, her head slightly cocked to the left, a crooked grin on her lips.
"No pain is too much if it allows me to learn something valuable..." Percy's words sounded more like he tried to convince himself, instead of others.
"Are you alright, Percy?" Chiron asked, as he joined the group of demigods.
Percy dusted himself off, as he stood up from the ground. Though he was just catapulted out of the lake he was already dry, since he could already control the water on his clothes and hair without any problems.
"I'm fine. I've been in worse conditions after fighting against gods."
"Don't brag, Perseus. That is a habit unbecoming of a son of the Sea." Triton scolded sternly, as he appeared, now in his more human form with legs instead of the tails.
"Lord Triton, an honor, as always." Chiron bowed slightly before the god, showing his respect.
Triton nodded towards the Centaur, before he looked at his brother again. "You still have much to learn, Perseus. Come, the next lesson will be at the beach."
"Alright... back to work." Percy sighed overly dramatic, before he allowed Triton to lead him away.
Ariadne saw this as her chance to escape a long and probably terribly boring lecture about safety regulations at the archery range, so she quickly ran after the two brothers, before anyone could stop her. "I'll tag along, see you later, Michael." Was all she said, before she escape the clutches of her older brother and the Centaur.
The two sons of Poseidon were quite the sight, as they marched through the camp. It was rare to see any of the gods inside the camp, but Triton's visits had become a regular occurrence during the last few months. By now most campers had accepted the fact that Percy had more contact to the gods than most other campers combined. Most had no problem with that, but some few felt jealous. Jealous that Percy seemed to be a favorite of the gods, though no one was sure whether Percy was the favorite demigod or the favorite pet of the gods.
"Those demigods know no respect. How any of their parents can be proud of them is beyond me." Triton said disdainfully, as he watched the other campers around them. "I do hope that you have not fraternized with any of the less desirable denizens here, Perseus."
"Yeah, yeah..."
"I mean it. You have to stay away from the lies and falsehood that some of these children have inherited from their parents. Be wary, especially of the children of Athena. She is our father's enemy as much as she is ours. Her children will only bring you harm."
"Most of them avoid me like the plague. But one of them has been a bit... odd. That girl, Annabeth, one of the companions of the thief, had pestered me with questions."
"Do not answer those questions. They will use all knowledge against you."
Percy was confused. Ever since Triton had come to train him, his older brother had constantly ordered him to stay away from the children of Athena. Triton seemed to downright loath Athena. And it was obvious that it was more than just a feeling born out of his loyalty to his father. To Triton it was obviously something personal.
"You really hate Athena and her kids, don't you?" Percy asked.
The question did nothing to lighten up the mood, the opposite in fact, it only caused Triton to scowl even more. "It wasn't always like this, but Athena's betrayal made it clear that she is an enemy of the sea, not just and enemy of our father."
"What?"
"It's not the time to tell this particular story. One day I will explain it to you. Explain how she has wronged all of us. Until then, you have to trust me and do as I tell you."
Percy didn't like it when people kept the truth from him, but judging by Triton's last words and the somber expression on his face, it was truly not the time to pry. But he was still so very curious. Maybe someone else could shed some light on this. But maybe it would be bad to go behind his brothers back. Though he was a stern teacher, Percy saw Triton as an older brother who deserved respect. Apollo had always been a more laid back big brother figure in Percy's life, while Triton was now more like the sterner, more dutiful sibling. The two gods were a stark contrast, but Percy knew that he benefited greatly from the teachings of both.
Ariadne, who had followed the brothers silently for some time, was finally fed up with the foul mood. "So, will we learn something interesting?"
"We?" Triton asked her with a raised eyebrow. Only grudgingly had he accepted that the daughter of Apollo followed Percy around most of the time. She was an annoyance to him, but he could understand that she had similar problems with fitting in at camp as Percy had. They shared a connection because of Apollo and due to their joint adventure they had grown somewhat closer. Alienating her would likely displease Percy and Triton avoided that if possible.
"Yes, we. I want to learn something, too, instead of being forced to teach archery to wannabe dolls, who have no care for the finer art of archery." Ariadne insisted.
"Understandable. Aphrodite's children aren't really interested in fighting or anything connected to that." Percy said with a nod. "But you can teach me some more things about archery that Apollo had no time to teach me."
"No archery." Triton said strongly. "We do not need a second Orion. The first one was a failure to begin with and we really don't want to repeat that mistake. And with Artemis in a position of power over you, it would be in your best interest to not remind her of Orion's existence by following his example."
"Right... so no archery for the moment." Percy conceded. He had no wish to antagonize Artemis any further. And to this day it was enough to just mention the name Orion to anger Artemis. Any attempt to emulate him would equal a death wish. "Then... close combat again?"
Triton looked thoughtful for a moment, before he answered. "Yes. But since you two are always together we will try something new. You will fight side by side against me. Try to combine your strengths and fight me with all you got. Maybe you will last for a few minutes this time, Perseus."
A/N: This is just the beginning. Just from this chapter it should be obvious that Triton will play a much bigger role in Percy's life, than he did in the books. I was always disappointed that Percy had so few interactions with his half-brother. Don't get me wrong, I do like Tyson, but I always felt that Triton would have been much more interesting, especially with his involvement with Athena and other gods.
And as I had mentioned before, I have several new chapters for this story, so let me know whether you are actually interested in this story or not.
Well, that is all for today. I hope to see you all soon...