27 Chapter 26: Dialogues and Decisions
A/N
I am back.
Sorry for the late update. Life has been hectic lately and with the lockdown etc. going on, things have been a mess. Plus me falling sick for like 2 weeks didn't help. Anyway, I am back now and will try to update on the same schedule i.e every 2 weeks. If in case I can't, be assured that I will put out at least one update per month.
Another note, I will be adding a page for FAQs etc before Ch 1 within the coming week. So in case you see that update, know its for that and not a chapter. Just dropping a warning before y'all say anything.
Shoutout to Yoshi and Fox for helping and e-luckarcher, Murph, Meister and Maruf for the beta and proof reading.
...
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or any of its characters.
x.x
Chapter 26: Dialogues and Decisions
~1 week later, 3rd Week of August. 3.75 months to quest start~
"Come on, is that the best that you can do? Kids in my kingdom have better control than you do."
Percy ignored the comment as he summoned some more water from the ocean and blasted it towards the sea-god who simply deflected it with a wave of his hand, spraying the area with water droplets.
"You know, trying the same thing again and again won't work, Percy." Poseidon said.
"Who said it was the same thing, dad?" Percy asked with a devious smile.
Suddenly small ice crystals burst to life right in front of the god and headed straight towards the god. Poseidon's eyes widened in surprise before his instincts took over as he swiped the crystals away.
"Wait, Percy. Were you just able to control ice? Can you do it properly?"
Instead of replying, the demigod floated some water in front of his father and turned them into small ice crystals much to the god's shock. That shock soon turned into laughter as Poseidon couldn't help but be proud of his son. Of course, Percy was a powerful demigod, he was his and Sally's son after all! However, the next words that Percy spoke turned his blood cold.
"I can also control the blood of other beings." Percy said. He had almost forgotten about informing Poseidon about it but thankfully he remembered as soon as his father asked him to demonstrate his other ability.
Meanwhile, the god was frozen stiff as he tried to wrap his mind around what he just heard. Did he even hear his son correctly in the first place? How was this even possible? His mind was racing through a hundred different questions before he was interrupted by Percy.
"Dad, look." Percy said simply. He had taken riptide out and made a small cut on his palm. As the crimson liquid flowed out, Percy focused on it and almost instantly, the blood gathered around and formed a small sphere as it freely floated on Percy's hand. On a side note, the demigod's eyes also had a tinge of red to them, indicating the ability that he had just used. Something that Poseidon recognised as he stared into the eyes of his son.
…
Ability Activated!
Blood Control
…
The god had trouble getting words out of his mouth as he stared at the small swirling ball of blood in his son's hand. The fact that his eyes also had a bit of red to them was enough of an indicator that Percy could use one of Poseidon's most powerful abilities. The power that none of his children had ever inherited. The power that he did not want anyone to ever have. The power which was something that he himself was reluctant to use due to its heavy implications. The power was now at the beck and call of his son. This was simply unprecedented.
Poseidon grabbed Percy's shoulder as his eyes lost all their mirth and turned dreadfully serious as he asked, "Son, who else knows about this ability?"
"Just Hestia, no one else. Why? Is it that bad?" Percy asked as he instantly caught on to what the god was saying.
"Perseus," Poseidon started, "this ability is perhaps one of the most dangerous powers to have. Imagine being able to control the movement and actions of every single being in all 3 worlds – Olympus, Earth, and the Underworld. Imagine being able to kill anyone at any given moment. No one is spared from its effects, not even immortal beings. Yes, you must be strong for that, but even ichor can be controlled to an extent. I never wanted any of my children to possess this ability due to its far-reaching repercussions. Luckily, none of them inherited it from me until you came along. This is the first time ever that one of my offspring has received that. I honestly do not know how to react to this."
The god then raised his hand and summoned the glob of blood towards himself as he inspected it while Percy tried to digest what he just heard.
"What other abilities have you got?" Poseidon asked suddenly. If his son could control blood, maybe he had acquired more of his abilities.
"I can summon storms, create earthquakes, breathe underwater, control water, ice, steam and blood," Percy said as he recollected his powers. He wasn't sure whether he had listed all of them, but these seemed to be the main ones.
On the other hand, Poseidon was gobsmacked. What in the world was happening? Percy basically had every single ability that he possessed. If ice and blood control weren't enough to break the god mentally, he sure as Hades was now. Never in his immortal life did the god ever see or imagine an instance where one of his children would inherit almost all his abilities. To say Percy is already one of the strongest demigods till date would not be an understatement. His powers alone would put him almost on the same level as the greatest demigods to ever live and he was just 13! His potential was endless, and the sea-god could see his son easily surpass his feathered idiot of a brother's son – Heracles. One thought after another ran inside the god's mind as he stood silently on the beach while the waves crashed erratically, sensing its master's mood.
Meanwhile, Percy stood impassively on the side, playing with a glob of water as he turned it into ice and reverted it to its original form. He realised that he had broken his father for the time being and that he would take a while to get his bearings right.
After a few minutes, Poseidon finally snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Percy with a concerned gaze.
"Son, you must promise me something. Until you become stronger, or the situation calls for it, never use your blood control ability. While I don't know what to think of it right now, I know for a fact that my brother will blow a gasket and immediately move to kill you if he ever found out about this. A demigod with this much power at such a young age is unprecedented and as such, he will view you as a threat. He already is wary of you, don't give him an even bigger reason to move against you now. Understood?"
"Yes father, I promise. I won't tell anyone else about this nor will I use it carelessly."
Upon hearing it, Poseidon flashed Percy a grateful smile. He cared for his son a great deal and would go to the ends of the earth to ensure his safety.
"Come on, let's get back to training. Show me how far you've progressed in each ability so that I know where we can work from."
Percy nodded his head and got ready once again, he was looking forward to the next few months of training with his father.
...
~1.5 months later, 1st Week of October.~
*CLANG* *CLANG* *SPLASH*
"You are a child of the sea, the water is a part of you, an extension of yourself. Do not treat it as something else otherwise it will never heed your call," Poseidon lectured as Percy lost control of the water surrounding him, immediately making him vulnerable through his blind spot.
Poseidon was currently training Percy to control water whilst engaged in combat, something that the demigod was unable to do on his own. However, the lessons with Poseidon had been extremely helpful in the last few weeks since he was able to progress by leaps and bounds. From not being able to keep any water up whilst engaged in combat, Percy could now do basic combat but if he was engaged by a skilled enemy, he'd easily lose focus of the water around him.
"Let's start again. We will go with a few basic attack, parry, and defensive manoeuvres whilst you use the water where needed before slowly increasing the level. I want you to be as prepared as possible before you go on the quest."
The sea-god had decided on foregoing trident training since it was an entirely new weapon class that Percy would have trouble learning. He deduced that it was better to hone Percy's other abilities that would complement his swordsmanship than teach a new weapon from scratch. Powering up his already strong abilities was the ideal way forward according to him. Moreover, he also needed to teach blood control to Percy. This was his most powerful ability, and it would easily get him out of a bind.
Thus, the two resumed training once again.
...
~0.5 months later, 3rd Week of October.~
Percy was currently sitting in the woods near Zeus' Fist waiting for a certain grey-eyed goddess. She had contacted him during the day, asking him to meet at night to discuss something important about the quest.
He was soon snapped out of his thoughts when Athena appeared in a flash near him.
"Lady Athena," Percy greeted as he rose to his feet to acknowledge the goddess.
She returned the greeting with a quick nod and beckoned him to sit as she summoned chairs for both of them.
"Perseus, there are about two months remaining until the quest. Before we discuss your training. I want to know your thoughts about the prophecy itself since I know you would've tried to decipher it," Athena said. She had already deciphered a portion of it however, she wanted to know Percy's thoughts about it and see how far he had progressed.
...
"The tides, the moon travel to the old dominion,
Each with their companion.
Flower planted in a grove,
The constellations bore.
To fight or flight have foresight,
Their fate decided by longest night."
...
Percy recited the prophecy.
"Starting with the first line, the tides definitely indicate me since I'm a son of Poseidon. As far as the moon is concerned, only one deity has control over it which is Lady Artemis. However, I am not quite sure whether a man-hating goddess would go on a quest with a guy so yeah," Percy said awkwardly before he continued. "Anyway, I do not know what Old Dominion represents. The only place that I can think of is Greece which is your homeland. But if Luke travels by plane, surely, Zeus will know. So I think this place must be somewhere in America or anywhere close."
"Interesting. Let me see what I can come up with. Anyway, go on," Athena said as she made a mental note to check up on this fact. She had been agonising over it for the past few days with no breakthroughs whatsoever, so to have a demigod come up with this line of reasoning was a welcome and helpful surprise.
"Both of us need to have a companion with us which means that there will be four people in the prophecy."
"And who have you decided as your companion? As the quest leader, it is up to you who to take," Athena asked. This was one of the most important points since the quest could fail or be completed on this alone. Plus, she wanted to see how far Percy had come and how well he could analyse situations. If he disappointed her, she'd lose interest in the demigod completely.
"I haven't heard many prophecies so I can't exactly say that I know about them well. Personally, I feel that the words can either be taken literally or figuratively and they usually carry a deeper meaning than they suggest. In this case, I'd say a companion would be someone who you're good friends with or close to, someone you can trust to have your back. For me, there are only two people – Grover and Annabeth."
"Why not any other demigod in the camp? From what I've observed, you are friends with quite a few of them."
"I did think about this. The thing is no one knew about the lightning bolt being stolen except for Grover and Annabeth. If I take someone else, there's a chance that others will also get to know about it. Plus, Zeus asked me not to tell anyone and I'd rather stay alive. Except for this, Luke could have someone working in the camp with him. If he/she gets to know about it, we won't be able to catch him," Percy explained.
"A well thought out argument. Now, out of Grover and Annabeth, who will you choose?"
"Grover."
"And what is wrong with my daughter?" Athena asked with narrowed eyes as she let some of her power leak to intimidate the demigod.
Despite being visibly a little uncomfortable, Percy kept his eyes locked with the goddess before he answered. "For any other quest, I would choose Annabeth in a heartbeat given how good she is at combat and coming up with strategies since she is your daughter. But, given the circumstances in this quest, it would be more harmful to bring her than not."
"Why?" Athena practically hissed the word with barely concealed rage which was unlike her usual demeanour.
"From what I've seen, she's quite close to Luke. So, if she sees him, no offence, she might let her emotions cloud her judgement which could be harmful to the quest. And I know this sounds like a huge stretch, but there's a small chance that she might even end up joining him if her emotions get the best of her. I do not mean to offend you at all Lady Athena, I am simply telling you my thoughts. I am sorry if I crossed any boundaries," Percy explained with a slight bow of his head to show that he was indeed apologetic for saying such a thing in the first place.
To his great confusion, he heard Athena laugh a little.
"Raise your head Perseus. Firstly, you do not need to apologise for speaking your mind. Secondly, I am quite impressed with your line of reasoning. You have weighed in the pros and cons of each situation and decided on an appropriate plan of action. I approve of your choice. Now, when do you plan on asking your friend?"
"I'll talk to him tomorrow about it. It will be better if I get it done early so that he has time to prepare for the quest as well."
"Good enough. Moving on, what else did you decipher from the prophecy?"
"I don't understand anything else except for the longest night which would be the winter solstice. I think this will be the final day, so we need to leave camp according to that."
"Agreed. Let me think about this discussion and then we can move on to planning for the quest. I will also speak to Artemis once and ask for her thoughts on this subject," Athena said. Secretly, she was somewhat dreading the conversation with her half-sister since she was impossibly difficult and headstrong when it came to things like this.
"Anyway, what's going on with your training now?" the goddess asked.
"I have been practicing my water powers with dad along with using them while sword fighting. Except for that, I have also started learning how to use a dagger as you had suggested and have been following the schedule that you had given me."
"Any changes or observations?"
"I can do basic combat while using water but anything more than that makes me lose my concentration, but I am working on it with dad. I will be able to do much more before going on the quest for sure. For dagger training, again, I know the basics but anything advanced than that is beyond me. Annabeth and Chiron have been helping me out quite a bit there so hopefully, I can learn enough to defend myself with it by the end. For your training schedule, it is going quite well and I can see a lot of results from it, but it should be more noticeable within a month. Maybe after another 2 weeks I will be able to give you a better answer for it."
Athena nodded, satisfied with the progress so far. She didn't say it but she was indeed quite happy with the way Percy was progressing. The demigod had a lot of potential both physically and mentally. If given the proper attention, he could perhaps pass Odysseus someday, which was saying A LOT. So all she could hope was for the demigod to follow her advice and be dedicated. She'd make him a warrior worthy of being her student. She was, however, snapped out of her thoughts when Percy spoke again.
"Is there anything else, Lady Athena?"
"No, that is all for today. I will meet you soon again. Keep up with your training and do not slack at all. The prophecy draws closer every day, I don't want you to grow lax or lazy. Understood?"
"Understood."
"Good, you can go now," Athena said.
Percy bowed his head in acknowledgement one last time before he walked back to camp, intent on speaking to Grover as soon as he could.
The goddess didn't immediately flash out. Instead, she opted to stay and observe the demigod who had managed to make her, of all people, train him. Granted, it was more out of necessity than anything but this was the first time in centuries when she had personally trained another demigod, and that too a son of Poseidon... Moreover, even though the training started out of necessity, she had started enjoying the process and looked forward to their weekly updates. The boy was determined and never wavered from his path regardless of how brutal the training or how long the study sessions were. He always took everything in stride. The outcome was quite evident from the conversation the two just had. This one was certainly different from all those that she had seen before, Hades, he was different from every demigod she had ever seen.
'Hecate was right, he holds great potential within himself. If anything, he will be the one to preserve Olympus when the prophecy comes to pass. I will make sure of it. I will personally train the greatest demigod to ever live,' Athena thought with determination.
With that thought in mind, the goddess flashed out of the clearing.
...
~1.5 months later, 1st Week of December. 1 week to quest start~
Percy was currently at the cabin with his parents and Hestia. He wanted to meet both of them before he left for his quest so here they all were.
The past month and a half were one of the most gruelling times for the demigod. He had spent as much time as he could trying to better himself. From training his water powers with Poseidon to training with a dagger with Annabeth to his time spent with Athena, and everything in between. Sleep had become a foreign concept to him as he had done nothing but train. There was no room for slacking and whenever he was tired, the water would revitalise him within moments. Gamer's Body helped him keep up with the demanding training that he put himself through too. His stats had reflected this as he could not help but feel proud of himself. However, just as he was about to pull them up, Hestia got his attention.
"Come on Percy, you need to forget about the quest for now. Rest for a week, you have done all you could in these few months. Just relax now. You've earned it." She said softly. She held his hand and took him outside to spend time near the water since it always helped the demigod.
Percy, on the other hand, couldn't help but smile at this. She was the best friend anyone could ever ask for. He couldn't even begin to describe how much the goddess meant to him. With a start, he realised that his life and him, to a huge extent, would not be the same without her. He had grown so accustomed to being around her, spending every moment of joy and sharing his sorrow with her, that he knew that no one could ever replace her. He…
*SPLASH*
A wave of water hit his face as he was snapped out of his thoughts. He turned his head to the offender, only to see Hestia laughing heartily with a huge smile on her face. Unknowingly, he reflected that immediately.
"Oh no, you don't," Percy said as he summoned a huge wave towards Hestia who yelped and used her fire powers to quickly evaporate the water.
In the background, Sally smiled at the scene, happy to see that her son was finally living a normal life or as normal as possible for a demigod. She thanked the goddess with all her heart for looking after her baby.
As if reading her thoughts, Hestia turned her face towards Sally and gave a small nod and a smile before she resumed having fun with her champion.
...
~In a forest, somewhere~
*THUD* *THUD*
Two arrows embedded themselves into the target, hitting the bullseye.
The person nodded her head, satisfied with the result. She notched another arrow, aimed, and let it fly once again.
The goddess was ready for her next hunt.
x.x
A/N
As promised, this was the last chapter of training. I will put out the change in stats in the next chapter before Percy sets off with Artemis.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, do drop your reviews.
Until next time.
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Percy's Stats
Perseus Jackson
Species : Demigod (gives +2 STR and +2 DEX)
Title : Son of Poseidon
Perseus is the son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson. Blessed by Elpis, the spirit of hope, he has a natural affinity with water due to his heritage which grants him control over water, horses, storms and earthquakes. He is also Hestia's champion which grants him control over fire and lets him summon meals.
…
Level - 21
Exp – 127 / 13,310
…
HP : 1,150 / 1,150 (+ 2,000)
MP : 1,250 / 1,250 (+ 2,000)
…
STR : 34 (+ 2 + 20) (Bonus : Weapon damage - Damage + STR | Unarmed damage - STR * 2)
VIT : 25 (+ 20) (Bonus : 50 HP per 10 levels)
DEX : 25 (+2 + 20) (Bonus : +10% HP regenerated / min)
INT : 36 (Bonus : 50 MP per 10 levels)
WIS : 27 (Bonus : +10% MP regenerated / min)
LUC : 26 (Bonus : +14% chance of better loot)
Points : 30
Money : $2,200 / D520
…
Status : Demigod
…
Skills
…
Combat :
Sword Fighting (Level 27)
…
Inherited :
Ancient Greek (Max)
Tongue of the Old Times (Max)
Modern English (Level 35)
Swimming (Level 11 - 13 km/hr)
Breathe Underwater (Max)
Akachan Shiru no Me (Max)
Running (Level 10 - 40 km / hr)
Storms (Level 4)
Earth Shaker (Level 3)
…
General :
Observe (Level 4)
Sneaking (Level 8)
Critical Strike (Level 10)
Mark of the Furies (Level 8)
Mage Armor (Level 13)
Summon Meals (Max)
Makarios tis Elpis (Level 3)
Battle Strategy (Level 12)
Bond Manipulation (Level 3) (Purple: Romance, Brown: Family, Red: Dislike/Hatred, Blue: Friends, Grey: Neutral)
…
Chores :
Cleaning Dishes (Max)
…
Passive :
Gamer's Mind (Max)
Son of the Sea God (Gives +20 STR, VIT & DEX as well as +2000 HP and +2000 MP when in water)
Battle Instincts (Max)
Champion of Hestia (to be declared)
…
Abilities :
Water Control (Level 25)
Water Manipulation (Level 20)
Blood Control (Level 8)
Dimension Create (Max)
Ice Control (Level 11)
Ice Manipulation (Level 8)
Steam Control (Level 5)
Fire Control (Level 20)
Fire Manipulation (Level 18)
