(3) New Beginnings

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PERCY POV

It's been two years since Perseus Jackson discovered the world of the gods and his whole life was flipped upside down. He gained the trust of the camp after going on a quest for the Golden Fleece with Clarisse and Grover. Thalia's tree had been poisoned and the barrier that kept camp hidden and protected was weakening, causing the campers to be vulnerable to outside attacks. They were able to return with the Golden Fleece on time, but the culprit was never uncovered even to this day.

The child of Poseidon was now 14 years old and currently on a quest with Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace, and Grover to rescue two demigods, Bianca and Nico Di Angelo, and take them to camp half-blood. They were currently at a school dance keeping an eye on the two demigods. Unfortunately, what seemed to be a simple mission turned out to be a whole lot harder. Apparently, some monsters also had their eye on them. While the campers were distracted the two demigods were captured. Once Percy noticed their lack of presence, he and the campers split up to look for the missing children. Percy frantically ran down the halls searching for them. Finally, he caught sight of a large shadowy figure rushing toward the exit. The son of the sea immediately followed it into the woods. As the figure approached a cliff he yelled after it, "Hey ugly!"

The figure turned around revealing the two demigods in its hold under its arms.

"Who are you?" demanded Percy. The humanoid figure gave a smirk before its face and body started to distort. Slowly everything fell into place, revealing a manticore in its place, "You can call me Dr. Thorn" he responded in a deep rumbling voice. At the sight of him, Bianca let out a teary scream.

"Shut it you damn brat!" the manticore immediately silenced her screams but it was more than enough to alert the other campers of their location.

"Let them go!" Percy commanded. He wasn't sure he could defeat the monster by himself, but he needed to hold him off until the others came. He pulled out his pen, uncapped riptide, and readied himself in a fighting stance.

The manticore's grin widened, "Very well. If a fight is what you want it is a fight that you will get." He shifted his hold onto the legs of the demigods and twisted. Bianca and Nico let out a pained scream and were quickly tossed aside.

"You didn't have to do that." The son of the sea said angrily.

"Of course, I did. We wouldn't want them to get away now do we." He said as he lowered to the ground but kept his readied tail out of sight.

At his jibe, Percy charged at the monster. Dr. Thorn who seemingly planned this waited until he was close enough before launching his tail at Percy. Unable to dodge or deflect the attack, Percy was stabbed on his right thigh and thrown into a tree. Dr. Thorn was prepared to pounce when an electric shock to his side sent him flying.

"Percy!" a blonde yelled as she ran to his side. The other campers had finally arrived.

"I'm alright" he responded to the daughter of Athena who was looking over his wound. "Take care of him I'll be fine." Annabeth hesitated but looking over her shoulder and seeing Thalia struggling with the monster while Grover was checking on the two demigods. Annabeth nodded and pulled out her knife and cap before turning invisible. As the manticore was distracted by Thalia she leaped onto the monster and stabbed him on the shoulder. The manticore let out a growl and grabbed the daughter of Athena from his back before tossing her over his shoulder. "Annabeth!" Thalia yelled out to the girl who was now unconscious from the impact.

Dr. Thorn was very angry now. He disarmed Thalia and pounced on her. He held her down and raised his tail above her head. "I've had enough of you brats! I'm ending this now." He growled.

Percy panicked at the sight before him. He tried to get up, but his injured leg wouldn't let him. He cursed as he failed to summon his powers. Percy had good control of his powers, but he still has trouble consistently activating them without water in his line of vision. He watched as Thalia turned her head to the side waiting for the inevitable to happen. He prayed for a miracle to happen.

Someone! Anyone! Please!

A silver arrow shot out of nowhere and pierced his tail. The manticore let out a pained growl and jerked backward. Another two arrows impaled his chest causing him to fall backward. Thalia quickly scurried away from his reach as more arrows came flying in.

"You damned hunters!" he yelled in frustration before launching himself off the cliff.

Several girls holding bows in silver suits emerged from the trees. A girl about 12 years old that seemed to be different from the rest stepped in front of them. 

"Who are you?" She asked looking at every single one of them.
"We are demigods my lady" Annabeth who gained consciousness seconds ago answered while bowing her head.

"Oh, you must-" she suddenly paused when she laid her eyes on Percy. Noticing their goddess stopped mid-sentence, they turned to what she was looking at. Once the hunters turned to the son of Poseidon, some of the older ones' eyes widened. The son of the sea started at them just as intently.

He became uncomfortable under their penetrating gaze so, he said the smartest thing he could think of at the moment, "Uh....is there something on my face?"
Thalia, Grover, and Annabeth facepalmed and yelled "YOU IDIOT"
"Huh?" was all he could say.

Percy didn't know why but for some reason, he felt at ease in their presence.

Before he could stop himself, he asked. "Um... Not to be rude or anything but have we met?"

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