Percy Jackson protector of the hunt

Chapter 21

Percy POV

He charged at me, and I smiled this would be interesting. He held the scythe in the air as if he planned to slice me from shoulder to hip. It may have been one of the easiest moves to read, but still I waited seeing if he would change direction. Of course he did as I had thought. Before he reached me the scythe dropped to the ground and started to come back up towards the back of my legs. I smiled and jumped over the blade. I felt the blade barely miss my legs and smiled. This would be interesting. With Riptide I wove around him, until I started to feel like I was slowing down. That scared me a little bit. Not because I couldn't fight the time spell, but because it meant that he could also speed up his movements. He may not have the control that Kronos had, but it may have been enough.

"John why are you in this fight? What's in it for you besides leadership?" He snarled at me and kept trying to slash me with the scythe. I was lucky multiple times. He was not as skilled with it as Kronos, and even though he was slowing me down slightly, he was still half mortal. That meant that his strength wasn't endless. I could see him starting to slow down with his strikes, and also the fact that he had beads of sweat on his forehead proved that he was struggling to keep up the spell, and fight at the same time. He swung one last time at me, then collapsed out of breath. I smiled, but then frowned there was something wrong here. I was trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together that I had no box lid too. What I was trying to do was put together someone's reasoning that I know almost nothing about. I groaned inwardly because I always hated puzzles, and trying to do this was nearly impossible for me. Finally I just gave up, and went and stood above him till he recovered enough to speak. When he finally did I asked in a calm voice. "John do you want to explain why you wanted this?"

Through his still heavy breathing, he said, "My father wanted it. He said that if I challenges you and won that he would claim me. That he would be proud of me. That's all I wanted was to make him notice me. I just wanted him to be proud of what I can do and what I've become." By the end of him talking his breathing had calmed, but I could also hear the desperation in his voice. He looked me square in the eye, and asked, "Didn't you ever try to get your dad's attention? To let him know that you existed?"

I looked at my hands, because this was a touchy subject for me too. John had literally just described something that every single demigod goes through at one point or another. I looked up, and said, "Yes, I have and I spent years trying to do it. However, this was not the way," before I could finish he started to protest, but I held up a hand silencing him. "Let me finish and explain why. You know about all of my quests right?" At this he nodded. "Well all of them were to try and stop your father from destroying the gods. At least all the ones before the seven were. I spent every single one of those quests doing everything I could to try to impress him. Heck I even sent the gods Medusa's head. However that's not the point, the point is. They are immortal and we aren't. No matter what we do, we will not make a lasting impression with them. We may save them multiple times before our deaths, but in a thousand years they could forget us. So what I decided to fight for was my friends and family. To defend those that I could and help protect the others. Besides if you did beat me, and become leader of us, what do you think your father would've done when he reformed and came back?"

He slowly started nodding his head, but when he heard my last question he got a puzzled look on his face till understanding then anger slowly started to show on his face. "He wouldn't have cared. He would've tried to take that leadership from me for himself. He wants all of the Titans and gods and their children under his leadership and would've stopped at nothing to get it. Including most likely killing me." I nodded and stood. Then I offered him a hand and helped him rise up to his feet. When he was able to stand, he held out his hand, and the scythe flew into his hand where he had dropped it.

I shuddered at that, because it was the exact same way Kronos used to do it. He noticed, and smiled sheepishly "sorry I forgot that you had seen this blade before, and that would probably bring back some memories." I nodded, but waved my hand in a dismal gesture.

"Don't worry about it. Listen John I'm glad you came to the understanding of what your actions could've brought, but next time think before you try to kill me." He smiled slightly and nodded

"I will oh and Percy?"

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye "yes?"

"Would you mind helping me train? Ive never had anyone to help me with powers and fighting, and you are the first one I've ever had to actually fight, and I'm in no shape to do this in an actual battle, and when that time comes I won't be much use unless I get stronger."

The question surprised me, but I found myself nodding, and looking forward to it. I turned towards him and stuck out my hand. "We can start tomorrow if you want, I've got some other things I need to get done today, but for now let's plan on right after lunch tomorrow." He slowly nodded, and shook my hand.
"It's a deal."

Several days later
A pattern was quickly formed in the morning I would run around the camp, to try and get some exercise, then before lunch I'd spar, and shoot bow and arrows with the hunters. After lunch I would work with John on his powers, and even his skill with backbiter. His skill grew exponentially. He was soon able to fight for hours on end, and even use his powers for just as long. We soon started to use powers in our fights, and he was able to completely stop my powers in time to dodge then kept fighting. It was impressive because we fought for hours, and even though my stamina was far greater than, his he was a Demi-Titan, and that meant he was extremely strong. We fought and fought until we were both so exhausted we collapsed on the ground breathing hard. Not even my fights with the Titans or gods had been that physically taxing. Soon the horn for dinner blew. We both groaned, and tried to get our feet under us. Before I could even try again I summoned some fire-water to give me enough energy to stand and walk. When I was up on my feet I walked up to John and offered a hand to help him up. We both held on to each other trying to make it to the dining pavilion. We were leaning against each other heavily because we were both so sore. As I sat down at the Artemis table, the girls all smiled at me. I glanced at them, but I wasn't to concerned, well until Thalia came and sat right next to me. I groaned as I pushed myself up straight in the seat. Her face, and scent told me that there was something wrong, and I knew instantly I wouldn't like what they had to say right now. Everyone else in the dining pavilion looked like nothing was wrong, but I could tell that the girls knew something that they didn't. I held up a hand as Thalia tried to speak. "Listen I can tell you got something to talk to me about, but please let me be, till after dinner. I'm exhausted and can't really deal with anything right now. At least in a stable and good attitude." She nodded and ate in silence till the end of dinner. Chiron went to the front of the pavilion, and pounded his hoof on the ground. Everyone instantly looked at him.

"Tonight we have the bonfire, and just a reminder capture the flag will be at the end of the week on Friday. That is all dinner is dismissed." Everyone cheered, and started to head to the bonfire. However, Thalia and myself stayed so that we could talk in private. We waited till everyone had filed out of the pavilion, then Thalia started talking.

"Listen Percy, I know that you are tired and exhausted, but the gods have something they needed to talk to you tonight about." I nodded, and as I was about to stand up she grabbed my arm, and said, "I'm sorry." With that she stood and turned around and walked out. I grumbled, and stood changing into a wolf and started walking out the door to head to the empire state building.