Outsider Chronicles: Mythology Science

Getting reborn as a Hero destined to save the world can put a real crimp in your existence. I expected to end up facing down Monsters and Gods before I was old enough to drink, but I wasn't expecting to meet a splatter-happy girl and her crazy, overeager commander. This is gonna be a weird summer...

So we're back. Nothing to say other than, enjoy!

Chapter 7

After Tokiko's overdose on the general craziness that comes from spending too much time around Bravo or Demi-gods (or both in this case), we three Warriors headed off to the arena. When we got there, Bravo walked over to the opposite side of the arena and turned to face us.

"Percy Jackson, it is time to begin your training," said Bravo, "As a Demi-god and an Alchemist Warrior, it is vital that your strength is as great as it can be!"

"Er, didn't Mum say something about not wanting you to recruit me?" I asked.

Bravo coughed into his fist.

"Warrior Sally's concerns have been noted, but at the end of the day, the choice is yours," he said, "Besides, even she cannot deny that you require training."

"Point taken," I said, "But I will point her at you if she blows her top."

Bravo swallowed, but nodded.

"Very well," he said, "Now come at me!"

I did just that...and promptly got my arse handed to me.

By the time dinner rolled around, I was nursing a black eye, a sore back from Bravo Back Breaker as Tokiko and I headed back to Cabin 11 to get ready for dinner.

"What happened to you?" asked Luke as we entered the Cabin.

"Bravo," I growled, "Hes a rather demanding taskmaster."

"Are you sure your OK Percy?" asked Tokiko, "That last attack looked like it did some damage."

I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine," I said.

"O...K," said Luke, "Anyway, I found you two some supplies."

He handed us both a bundle of fabric. A quick check inside revealed it was a sleeping bag with toiletries tucked inside.

"Thanks," I said.

Tokiko just nodded and headed over to the spot we'd been assigned.

"Rough first day?" asked Luke.

I shrugged.

"I think shes just trying to take it all in," I said, "Shes an orphan, so finding out one of her parents is a God is a bit much to take in. It doesn't really help that shes got a scientific leaning mindset."

Luke shot me an odd look.

"You don't seem to be having trouble," he said.
I shrugged again.

"I'm adaptable."

Luke just gave me a flat look, before letting out a sigh.

"Well, we all start like her," he said, "And even after we start believing...it doesn't get much better."

Holy cow, the bitterness in his tone was palpable! I'm genuinely surprised that he ever signed up with Kronus, even with the Titan Lords silver tongue.

"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked, more to break the awkward silence than anything.

"Thats right," said Luke, "God of Messengers, Medicine, Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads really. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."

"That a fact?" I asked.

"Yep," said Luke, "Now, its time to go to dinner."

The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before. Must be a Son of Poseidon thing.

"Eleven, fall in!" yelled Luke

The whole cabin, about 21 of us, filed into the courtyard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last with Tokiko. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down. It was a rather beautiful sight. We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion, with Satyrs joining us from the meadow, Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake and a few other girls came out of the woods

In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads. At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze onto the edge of a bench with half my ass hanging off. I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.

Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey blonde hair. Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table with Bravo, now without his Silver Skin, taking up most of the attention with bombastic storytelling and his incredible charisma.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass.

"To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses.

"To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and barbecued meats.

"Speak to it," said Luke, indicating to my glass, "Whatever you want-nonalcoholic, of course."

I ordered orange juice and was rewarded with a glass full of delicious, fresh squeezed juice. I quickly piled up my plate with food and followed the others to the brazia to make a sacrifice.

"For Dad, Hestia and the Fates so they won't screw me over to badly," I thought.

The flames flared up and warmed slightly as the smoke took on a scent of roasting fish and the sea breeze.

When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention. Mr. D got up with a huge sigh.

"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats," he grumbled, "Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table, along with a loud shout from Bravo.

"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have some new campers today. Peter Johnson and Toriko Tsuki."

Chiron murmured something.

"Er, Percy Jackson and Tokiko Tsumura," Mr. D corrected, "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everyone stood, but before we could leave, Tokiko let out a startled yelp as a thick, red smoke that smelt of perfume surrounded her. A moment later, it cleared to reveal that the very confused looking Warrior's clothes had transformed into a pink yukata patterned with flowers and doves, a red obi and matching sandals. Her hair was the same length, but was now decorated with a red ribbon and a slight touch of makeup served to bring out her features and reduce the prominence of her scar. In short, she was beautiful.

A low buzz of chattering emerged from the Campers, especially those from Cabin 10, although I was way too busy trying not to burst out laughing to hear what they were saying. Let me just say that Aphrodite was NOT my first guess for being Tokiko's Mother.

"W-what happened?!" demanded Tokiko, staring down at her new look in shock.

"You've been Claimed Warrior Tokiko," said Bravo, "Congratulations."

"Huh?"

"All hail Tokiko Tsumura, Daughter of Aphrodite," said Chiron as everyone bowed.

Tokiko's face went through a variety of colours and expressions, before settling on red and utter confusion.

"WHAT?!"

The next few days were comedy gold for me. It was apparent right from the get go that Tokiko really didn't have anything in common with her siblings, not when her idea of fashion was whatever she could move around easily in and she used Valkyrie Skirt to cut her hair (I asked). In fact, the only person in her Cabin she seemed to get along with was Selene, although to be fair, it was hard to dislike the girl. On the other hand, the relationship between Tokiko and Drew could be called rocky at best and downright explosive at worse. It didn't help that the bratty girl seemed to be a hybrid of all the bratty popular girl stereotypes from American TV, right down to the clique of vapid friends and cruel comments. She stopped trying to get a reaction from Tokiko after she and I spared against one another, Valkyrie Skirt to Absolute Kelvin and nearly destroyed the arena though.

In other news, I knew that the Councillors were watching, trying to get some idea of who I could be the Son of. They quickly ruled out Apollo after I somehow managed to shoot of Bravo's hat. When he was standing on the far side of the range to the target I was aiming at. Yeah, I have no idea how thats possible either.

Foot racing? No good either. I was quick, but the wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust. They told me not to worry about it since they'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. As for the combat side of things, well, considering I had taken Muay Thai lessons last time through, trained with Bravo every day and even convinced Mum to let me take self defence lessons this time through, I had little problem taking down anyone who entered the ring with me. I think it goes without saying that I was great at anything that had anything to do with water, but I was bloody awful at virtually all the creative activities. I was so bad, Beckendorf actually kicked me out of the forge.

Then, my first sword lesson rolled around. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor. We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I did my best to follow the Greek style forms Luke was teaching us, but it just felt wrong and the heavy shield certainly didn't help matters. It didn't help that all of the practice swords felt just as wrong as the forms and no matter what Luke did, he couldn't find a suitable one. I could have used Absolute Kelvin, but a razor sharp sword isn't really suitable for training. Eventually, we moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time.

"Good luck," said one of the campers, "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

"Maybe he'll go easy on me," I said.

The camper snorted.

And he was right to. Luke really didn't pull his punches and before long, I was starting to bruise.

"Oh, to hell with this," I growled, tossing my shield aside.

"What are you doing?" asked Luke curiosity.

"Its just weighing me down," I said, "I can't move right with that on my arm."

Luke shrugged.

"Suit yourself," he said and charged.

I instinctively twisted to one side, evading the blade and wrapping Luke on the wrist with my sword as he went past. The blow forced his fingers to open, dropping his sword, and he froze as the tip of my sword pressed against his throat.

"Much better," I said.

"You've had training with a sword before, haven't you?" asked Luke.

I nodded with a grin.

"Kendo, at school," I said, "Great fun and rather useful for beating monsters who expect Greek sword styles."

"That sounds interesting," said Luke, "I wonder what you could do with a proper sword…?"

He trailed off with a cough. I frowned slightly. I had noticed that Luke seemed to be coughing a lot, but when asked about it, he brushed it off as a cough. Now, while that might be believable anywhere else, here in Camp, the Apollo Cabin could fix a case of the sniffles in no time flat. Still, it was none of my business, so I kept my nose out.

The next evening at dinner, the excitement in the air was palpable as the Campers eagerly awaited the start of this week's CTF game. When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables. Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her siblings ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

"Whose side are we on?" I asked Luke.

He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight.

"We've made a temporary alliance with Athena," he said, "Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."

The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities-in order to win support. Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. That meant that Tokiko and I would be on opposite sides and made me infinitely glad that Bravo wouldn't be taking part. If he was, we'd be completely boned.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble and silence instantly fell.

"Heroes!" he announced, "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal. I took one look at the heavy bronze armour Luke offered me and shook my head, instead choosing some light, leather armour that was meant for Scouts and the required helmet with the horsehair plumb.

"Do you need a weapon?" asked Luke.

"Nope, I got one," I said, holding up Absolute Kelvin.

Tokiko was already wearing her Valkyrie Skirt and I really did not want to be without my Buso Renkin tonight with the look she was giving me. My friend was not happy with the fact I had found her interactions with her sisters infinitely amusing and made no attempt to hide it.

"Blue team, forward!" yelled Annabeth and we marched off, ready to begin the nights bloodbath.

And done. Fricking finally! Sorry for the long wait, but I could not get the sparring match between Percy and Bravo right. In the end, I decided to scrap it and this was the result. It certainly didn't help that my drama loving side kept insisting that I end with the reveal of Tokiko's parentage and a cliffhanger. However, I've now beaten that part of me into submission and the chapter is done.

Speaking of Tokiko, how many people thought I'd have Tokiko as Aphrodites daughter? Still, it could be worse. My original plan was to have Papillon as Aphrodites son as well. I had a whole scene planned for Tokiko's revelation to that reaction too, but I had a better idea for Papillon's identity in this story.

Anyway, next time, the CTF game! Until then, leave me a review! Oh, and enjoy the Omake!

OMAKE: What could have been!

It was finally over. Kronos was defeated, Victor was back to normal and off to live a normal life with Victoria and I was no longer draining everyone with my mere presence. Now, there was only one thing left to do…

"PERSEUS JACKSON!"

I jumped and turned around to see Papillon stood at the edge of the Pavilion, glaring at me as the Campers scrambled away from the Homunculus. I blinked in surprise at the sight of him.

"Chouno? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm making sure you don't regene on your side of the deal!" said Papillon, marching towards me.

"Actually, I meant how are you here?" I said, "I though the Barrier should keep you out?"

I glanced at Bravo, who looked just as confused.

"Indeed, the Barrier should keep out Homunculi," he said, "Even if he was invited, we would have felt something. The only way he could be here is if…"

He trailed off, his eyes widening.

"Is if he was a Demigod," he finished.

All eyes turned to Chouno.

"But if he's a Demigod, he should have been Claimed, right?" asked Annabeth.

"Yes, your right," I said, "So who is…"

I was cut off as a red cloud appeared around Papillon for a moment, before it cleared and revealed that...nothing had changed. He was still wearing his 'stylish' outfit, but a holographic dove was floating over his head.

"Oh, Aphrodite," I said, "Wait…"

There was the sound of glass cracking and I turned to see Tokiko falling to her knees, eyes glassy and a spirit emerging from her mouth. Papillon crossed his arms and glared at his newly revealed sister.

"Now thats just rude," he said.