Goku and the Olympians

Chapter 7: Love and War (Rewrite)

*Here's the Chapter 7 rewrite. Chapters 8, 9, and 10's rewrites will be a lot more different from the originals by comparison, but this one still has a few changes as well, especially in terms of dialogue. Hope you enjoy it.

Goku continued following Artemis to Camp Half-Blood's training grounds. He curiously looked around the surrounding area, noticing the small piles of snow spread from one end of the camp to another. The Saiyan, of course, had never seen any type of summer camp before – let alone, during the wintertime – so everything about this place was unique to him. Its focus on combat practice and training probably would have appealed to him as a kid, in fact, so even by the standards of his own universe, it piqued his interest.

He saw that the camp's titular demigods were, at the moment, seated in some kind of mess hall. Each camper was around twelve to eighteen-years-old and sat at individual tables that represented the Olympian gods. A large bonfire was also situated in the center of this dining pavilion.

To Goku's aghast horror, some demigods were dropping large sums of their food into it. He gasped as each delicacy, whether it to be meat or fruit, was swiftly burnt to a crisp in seconds.

"A-Artemis, why are those kids wasting all of that good food?!"

The moon goddess glanced back at him and rolled her eyes. She was still a bit perplexed by Goku's compliment earlier. "Offering food is seen as a form of tribute to us gods. Demigods are expected to partake in this tradition before every meal, including a large dinner like this one. Calling it a waste isn't very respectful, Goku."

The man shrunk a little in slight embarrassment.

"O-Oh... alright then. But how does that work exactly? Don't you and the other Olympians have their own food to eat?"

Try as he might, his brain couldn't quite comprehend the concept of food being used for something other than eating. He assumed that other Saiyans, namely Vegeta, would think the same way.

"Of course we do. We just like the smell of mortal delicacies from time to time. In a way, it can help soothe us." said Artemis as she breathed in the refreshing scent of cooked meat.

Goku quirked a brow in response to the odd look Artemis had on her face.

"That's... weird."

The goddess of the hunt shook her head and lightly giggled at her captive's reaction. This further caught Goku off-guard, because from what little he's seen of her, Artemis didn't seem like the type to laugh very much. Even more bizarre was that her laugh, despite its short duration, sounded radiant and almost bubbly in tone. It didn't fit a cold, battle-hardened huntress such as herself, admittedly.

This short moment made Goku wonder if there was more to Artemis's personality than he assumed. To find that out, he'd need to learn more about her and vice versa.

"Hehe. I suppose I can't blame you for reacting like that. Us gods do have our own peculiarities and quirks like any other living thing." She proclaimed with a small grin. Her face then shifted back to its usual look of indifference midsentence. "We're not infallible, Goku. We can and do make mistakes sometimes. My father alone confirms that..."

Goku nodded his head.

"I guess that's normal then. The gods back in my universe weren't perfect either. Some of them were actually pretty dang weird, now that I think about it."

Apart from King Kai, he thought back to his first meeting with Supreme Kai back at the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament. He was quite ominous during that time and, in some sense, he still was. Despite his benevolent nature, some parts about him and his past remained a mystery to this very day.