"So, uh… We probably should have asked this question before we started. But are you even old enough to drive?" Percy asked, looking out the window. He glanced at Luke, who was driving the car they were in.
"I know how to drive." Luke said casually. "I've had to steal a lot of cars before."
"...alrighty then." Percy decided not to dwell on that second party.
Truthfully, it was probably a question that Percy should have asked several states ago. However, every time it was almost brought up by him, it was sort of ignored. It was only now that he said something because he looked out the back window and saw the disappearing body of a monster that Luke had just run over.
Percy just shrugged.
"It's not as hard as driving a chariot." Grover offered.
"I drove mine into a wall." Percy frowned. "Chiron said I wasn't allowed to drive another chariot until I at least get my driver's license first."
He decided that regardless, it was probably better than what he could do.
"Hey Annabeth, what exit am I taking?" Luke asked.
Annebeth took out a map, looking over it. "Take this one up on the right, then we're going south through Kansas City, and then it's a straight shot to Denver."
"Wouldn't it be faster to keep on this road?" He asked.
Annabeth shook her head. "Someone's already taking that way. Chiron said that every group had to take a different route out west." She turned the map for them to see. There were dozens of lines highlighted across the country that showed other routes by other groups that had already left.
"Guys." Malcolm, who was usually very quiet, suddenly spoke up. He had his head leaned against his hand as his elbow rested against the edge of the window in the back seat opposite of Percy. "Shadow on the left."
The others were confused at what he was saying.
"That bird shadow has been on us for about an hour now." He said again.
That got everyone's attention.
"Should I poke my head out and take a look?" Percy offered.
"No!"
"No."
Luke and Annabeth both said almost immediately.
"If it thinks we saw it, it might be able to do something like hit the car, then we're screwed." Annabeth explained. "We need to take it out before it has the chance to do anything like that."
That was the assumption that it was a monster, of course. But they didn't want to take any chances; they were far out, almost into the middle of nowhere on the highway. It would be a bad place to get stranded.
"Based on the location of the sun overhead and the time of day, I'd guess that it's about a hundred feet above us at about two o'clock." Annabeth stated.
"Whatever we do, we may want to do it quick because those are some nasty storm clouds up ahead. And they're kind of giving me the willies." Percy pointed out.
They all could see, in fact; it didn't need pointing out. There was an utterly massive storm ahead that seemed to stretch on in all directions as far as the eye could see.
"I could put on the Winged Shoes I have and maybe try to stab it with my speed." Luke offered. "But we'd have to stop, and that might spook it enough for it to try and break the car."
"No way, that's just letting it have a stationary target if it really can destroy our car." Annabeth shook her head.
"If we get close to water, I could maybe try something." Percy offered.
"What? What could you do with water?" Luke snorted. "Are you going to try and splash it from a hundred feet up in the air?"
"I—" Percy was about to counter, but Malcolm put a hand on his arm, and Percy bit it back and just grumbled under his breath.
The two of them still hadn't fully revealed the full breadth of their abilities.
"I'll take care of it." Malcolm suddenly offered.
The quietest of the four.
Before anyone got rejected, he had reached down and pulled out a bow from his bag. Like Percy's Pen Sword, it was collapsible and easy to store in small spaces.
He rolled down the window. "Percy, grab my legs, please."
"Wait, you aren't seriously—" Annabeth was about to speak up, but Malcolm suddenly pushed half his body out the window and aimed upwards.
Percy was the only one to react in time to grab his legs so he didn't fall out by accident.
Malcolm had already nearly determined the position of the bird in his mind, and he just needed to confirm it with his eyes.
He wasn't a son of Apollo, but he had watched the children of Apollo practice with their bows. Not that he hadn't practiced himself, but what could someone his age achieve with but a few weeks of bow practice?
He did what Ocean Song had taught him; his power surged silently through his body, and his eyes focused unnaturally.
It seemed to resonate with his eyes in particular.
The Gift received from being a child of Athena. To be given a supernatural control over weapons, and likewise, to be able to analyze mid-combat the abilities of opponents, to watch them move and act, and to be able to respond in a way that borders future sight. And lastly, memorization. Being able to acquire the memory of anything of importance and never forget it.
His posture and his movements mirrored the best archer in the camp based on his memory. His gifts allowed him to become one with the bow, reaching a synergy that was hard to describe.
Lastly, his power allowed him to pull back the Celestial Bronze Bow with strength that betrayed his smaller frame.
Despite moving in a car moving at nearly a hundred miles per hour. Despite the target also swaying and moving at a similar speed over a hundred feet up in the air, the loose arrow found its mark.
The bird fell from the sky.
Malcolm slid back inside the car, and he was met with silence.
"What?" He asked them, mostly Annabeth and Luke.
"Are you sure you're not a son of Apollo?" Luke asked incredulously, pulling the car over.
Annabeth hit his arm. "Don't talk bad about our mom, you idiot." She said under her breath. "But…that was…impressive, Malcolm."
That is to say, Annabeth was utterly astonished that her younger brother had such skill with a bow.
She barely knew anything about this brother of hers, only his name, before he and Percy came to ask if she wanted to go on the quest.
"I haven't seen you practice much around the archery field." Grover added in.
"I practice on my own." Malcolm said noncommittally, putting the bow away. "And it didn't turn to dust; it might still be alive."
"... I don't think I've heard of one of Athena's children being so talented with a bow before." Grover said under his breath.
"I practice with every weapon." Malcolm snorted. "My blessings mean I'm automatically proficient with any weapon; it's easy to pick one up and get 'good enough' with it."
Annabeth blinked because she had never considered that before. She mostly just trained in what she liked and knew, rarely branching out.
"Well, let's go put that monster out of its misery. Don't want it calling for help and getting even more to start chasing us." Luke got out, and the others followed.
It was easy to find where the bird fell because it hadn't moved much.
However, once they got there, they realized it wasn't like any monster they'd seen before.
In fact, it didn't even look like a monster.
Maybe it was a bit bigger than normal, but it looked like a normal raven.
And it was most assuredly still alive.
"I only clipped its wing. It turned right at the last moment." Malcolm muttered under his breath, noticing one feather in its wing was missing, where it got clipped slightly.
The raven pushed itself upright and looked at them, cawing a few times, but otherwise, didn't show any real hostilities.
"I don't recall any Raven bird monsters off the top of my head." Grover scratched his head in confusion. "What about you guys?"
"I don't recall any either." Annabeth shook her head.
"Is it even a monster?" Percy asked.
"Let's just kill it anyways." Luke suggested. "Do we really want to take that risk? What if there are more, and it causes a big commotion when it goes back to wherever it came from?"
He held up a Celestial Bronze Sword over its head.
"No, wait!" Percy stopped him. "Let's take him with us."
"...you can't be serious, Perce." Grover spoke up.
Though, before anyone could stop him, Percy knelt down and offered an arm out, and without hesitation, the raven hopped across the ground and jumped up onto his arm before moving up to his shoulder.
They looked at it incredulously again as it perched happily on his shoulder and cawed several times before settling into the spot.
"See? He's a good bird. I'm going to name him Greg." Percy rubbed the bird on the head much to its happiness.
Luke sighed, putting his sword away. "Can't really kill it now that it has a name." He said in defeat.
So far, it was the most exciting thing to happen to them since their little trip. Yet, it turned out to just be a random bird and not even a monster.
"I'm getting kind of hungry; can we stop somewhere soon?" Grover asked as they went back to the car.
"We're almost to Kansas City, but I planned for us to make it to Denver before dinner. We can find something there." Annebeth stated, pulling out the map again. "Let's see, we need to take exit—"
Before she could finish, the bird flew off Percy's shoulder, grabbed the map out of her hand, and flew away.
"..."
"....."
"Well, that sucks." Percy looked up as the bird flew away.
[Line Break]
Ocean Song carefully eyed the horizon.
The wind whipped through his hair.
His Divine Sense swept out constantly, yet nothing was picked up by him. Despite this, he felt on edge, like something was watching him.
He was sitting cross-legged on top of the bus as it drove through the desert.
Despite this, he made sure to give Lyra at least half of his attention at any given time with his Divine Sense.
She was happily sitting inside, right under him, eating some snacks he had on him and had given to her.
He also made sure to give her a few Talismans, just in case.
Ocean Song tried several times to get in contact with Hecate or someone else, but still, every time it failed.
He looked up, and the same dark clouds still hung overhead. They all but dared him to try and fly up.
Despite his concern and trepidation, he was alert.
His eyes were closed, but his heart was open.
Perhaps that's why he finally felt like whatever was watching him finally made a move.
In one fluid motion, he stood up and swung his sheathed sword forward, hitting something and deflecting it.
He didn't get a good look at it, but he saw the sand on the side of the rose swirl and thump as if something dived down.
Not only that, but his Divine Sense still didn't detect anything despite sweeping the area for miles.
Whatever just attacked him, it was able to evade his senses in this desert area.
Ocean Song stood there motionlessly.
Once more, he swung his sword and hit something again, barely catching another glimpse of it. On this second trade, he felt more of what he connected with.
It wasn't steel or metal of any sort. It felt like something living but hard enough that he couldn't draw blood from that simple trade.
Ocean Song couldn't remember the last time he fought an opponent that was able to…stand before him in such a way.
With a bit of introspection, he realized that all his enemies thus far have either been far out of his weight class or something he could deal with without much effort.
Gracefully, Ocean Song took a step forward, and his sword cried out and hit something again.
Then again, a flurry of strikes came from all sides.
If someone were to watch from the side, they would have seen Ocean Song performing some sort of strange sword dance.
Yet with every movement, there was a booming reverberation as if two objects were colliding at high speeds.
This 'battle' continued for miles.
For the passengers, it simply felt and sounded like thunder from overhead.
Ocean Song was taking care not to shake the vehicle too much, even as each strike from his mysterious opponent would surely be debilitating if it landed.
He allowed himself to stay on the back foot, to act as if he was unable to take the initiative.
Every strike, he reacted, never launching an attack.
He bided his time, watching every strike. Memorizing the rhythm and interlude between each attack, however small it was.
Gradually, he adapted to it, and after deflecting the last strike that seemed to try and pierce towards his head, he shifted his footing and raised his blade high up.
His Qi flowed out, and before the strike even came, he swung his sword off to the right into the emptiness.
A large sword light flashed out, splitting the ground, and right on target, it collided with something he hadn't been able to pinpoint until now.
It had surfaced just as his attack landed, causing it to let out a strange sound, blowing away the sands it hid under and revealing it fully.
A massive scorpion tail.
Ocean Song noted that it belonged to a half-scorpion, half-man-type creature.
Beyond what one would expect, the 'human' body parts had four arms rather than two.
It was strong.
Ocean Song already knew that, but to see it fully now, he had to give it that well-earned title.
Just from being able to hide from his senses, he knew that it had to have profound strength. Not to mention, its body was able to contend with his blade.
Ocean Song could tell his opponent's body was at least on the level of a Nascent Soul cultivator. However, his aura was lacking in that regard, more equivalent to a Core Formation Cultivator.
It didn't go back under the sands.
It looked at Ocean Song, and surprisingly, it pulled out a sword that hung on its waist and a bow on the other side.
The creature held up the sword, pointing at him.
It was challenging him.
"Very well. You had not one targeted the bus itself; therefore, I shall accept this warrior's challenge." Ocean Song jumped off the bus, landing on the ground.
He was worried about Lyra, yes, but he also made preparations ahead of time. And he would make sure the bus didn't get too far out of his range.
Perhaps, it was better that this monster focus only on him rather than the bus. Likewise, he didn't think any other monsters were nearby; with such a powerful monster being here, any others would most likely flee.
Above all other thoughts, though, Ocean Song recognized it as a worthy foe.
"If you challenge me to a duel, then state thy name, fellow Daoist." Ocean Song stepped towards it until he was a polite but proper distance away.
The creature let out a noise; it wasn't quite human language, but it carried with it an almost godlike ability to be understood.
If Ocean Song weren't a monster himself, he might have mistaken the creature for a god based on presence alone.
"Aqrabuamelu"
The name carried weight.
It was no mere monster.
Just its name carried with it a sort of history, as if projecting its life to Ocean Song to tell him who he was going to duel.
Ocean Song now knew who he was fighting.
One of the great monsters created to fight the gods of another pantheon.
A child of Tiamat, the Primordial Goddess of Salt Water from Ancient Mesopotamia.
In a way, it could be said that both Ocean Song and the Scorpion-man were very distant cousins due to their connection with the sea.
"This one's name is Ocean Song, the son of Poseidon." Ocean Song returned the polite greetings in his own way. "Let this be a worthy duel."
There were no further words needed to be spoken.
The two monsters, children of sea gods,moved at the same time, and their blades clashed, causing the desert to split.
[Line break]
A/N
Ocean Song meets his first opponent that can fight him, and it is either not way too strong or way too weak.
Percy and Co. continue their own quest with other entities moving in the background.
I'm doing a bit better, had a rough couple of past days, but I think I'm making progress.
If you want to read 1 chapter ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a boosty if you can't use the above under the same name.