So, I'm writing this for the Writing Competition #1, Demigod Sports.
I raked my brain about five million times and decided on this.
Gladiator Battles.
Who wouldn't want to see Elephant Frank face off against Percy? Well if you do, too bad, cause that isn't gonna happen.
The Rules of the Arena
-No powers.(Boring right?)
-No dirty sparring.
-No assistance from gods.
-No unleashing feral and more than likely mortally dangerous animals on your opponent.
The Arena?
It's pretty much a miniature Colosseum in Camp Jupiter. Reyna thought it would be a great idea to build it and everyone agreed...until Octavian decided that we should host Gladiator Battles inside.
Yes! *Fakes excitement* Octavian, you are a genius! *Barely contained sarcasm*
Reyna and Jason disagreed, but then Oct the Octopus brung out his wildcard. The gods told me too.
Bah! The gods wouldn -actually I could see Ares, Athena, Zeus and Hera agreeing to that. Oh wait! I mean Mars, Minerva, Jupiter and Juno. Hold on a tiddlywink! Why are the Roman gods planets/moons? I mean do they think they were so high and mighty they could just name themselves after the planets and moons? Oh...I get it. They named the planets/moons after them. Oops.
Anyways, back on track.
So Oct decided to create a Gladiator system. Basically twice a week Gladiator Battles were held in the Mini Colosseum and the picks were from one of those glass Lotto bowels you see in the shops/mall(for you Mericans)
It was supposed to bring the people of Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood closer.
Did I just say Camp Half-Blood? Yes I did. It's obviously after the Giant War and they kicked Gaia's ugly mud butt to the bottom of Tartarus. After that everyone was happy, except Oct the Octopus, and the camps created a portal thingy that teleported them to each other. Yay for Hermes!
No one died, cause I don't like those sad endings...I'm kidding I'd love if someone *cough*Frank maybe*cough* died, but just to make everything A-okay I'll make sure no one died.
Now for the story!
...oooohhh wait!
Rating-I dunno T, because it will contain some swearing.
Characters-The Seven and some beans.
Synopsis-Read above you oxymorons!
Disclaimer-I don't own the characters, Uncle Rick does, but I own the story and idea.
Okay I'll try again.
Now for the Story!
________________________
Hi, I'm Valdez, Leo Valdez. Was that enough James Bond for you? No. Too bad. Anyway, as I was saying, I'm Leo Valdez son of Hephaestus and one of the seven of that big bad prophecy about Gaia. Now that that's over and the camps are connected I spend a lot of my time covered in flames and chasing birds across the Fields of Mars. Yeah I get it, I'm a weirdo, but at least I'm not like Piper and Jason or Annabeth and Percy who suck faces twenty-four seven. They act like the worlds about to end again. Even when the world was really ending they didn't suck faces...maybe that's because we were facing like a million giants, but that doesn't matter they still had chances to.
So, anyway, I was just teleporting my way over to Camp Jupiter. Teleporting you say? Yup, Hermes did it for us. What a great guy. He still glares at Annabeth a lot. Not sure why though.
Anyway, when I arrived some dude grabbed my arm and led me all the way to the Praetor building thingy. Huh, I remember when I pretty much blew this part of town us. Oh and that bit over there, and there, and there. Okay I blew a lot of Camp Jupi up, but it wasn't me it was some demon thingy!
When we arrived at the building where Reyna sits and strokes her metal dogs, I went inside and Reyna was sat there on her chair...stroking her dogs, Jason was beside her, Piper was beside him and...Oct the Octopus, Octavian, was standing next to Reyna.
"Um...did I miss a party?" I ask Jason, my bestest friend in the entire universe! Kidding. He's still my best friend, or as those buff dudes, at those schools I've never been to, say, he's my best bash up the little kid friend. Not that Jason and I bash up little kids.
"No. Not yet." He smiles slightly. Hmm, this isn't good. Jason smiling, it's the end of the freaking world. I look at Piper, raising an eyebrow. She looked sympathetic and worried. Did Jason? No. No way!
"Dude!" I exclaim. Gross man. Why tell me? And why is Oct here? Damn!
"Dude what?" Dude what? He's acting innocent. Poor Piper. They're only like seventeen going on eighteen. I know it's legal, but doing that! What's her dad going to say? The kid...oh gods the kid.
"Piper is it what I think?!" I snap my head around to Piper who frowns, then her face scrunches up and she looks damn ugly and disgusted.
"I'm not being the godfather! I'm out man!" I turn around and start my big and awesome leave when Jason calls after me.
"What ever you think is wrong!" Turning back around I storm up to him.
"Then what's going on?!" I ask him. Why I'm gonna kill this guy. To do that to Piper it's jus-
"You're facing Octavian in the Colosseum today." Reyna says. What the flying fudgesticks?
"What the fu-"
"Don't finish that Leo." Piper warns me. Oh shit. I can't fight without my fire and no powers are allowed. Oh. My. Gods. Help me!
"Help me!" I grip Jason's shoulders and start shaking them. "I'm gonna die!"
"Dude, Leo. You need to calm down." I nod my head. Yeah he's right, I can beat Oct, I mean I fought like a million giants. I can do this. Taking a step back I calm my breathing and turn to Octavian.
"Bring it on Octopus."
"Huh." He turns and leaves. What? No death threats? Right...
"He's going to prepare. You should too Valdez." Reyna informs me.
"Sure, I'll be going." Sighing, I face Jason and Pipes. "If I die, bring my body to Festus and bury me in the Argo II.
"Eew. No. You'll stink the boat up. We'll bury you elsewhere thanks." Piper smirks.
"Okay, I'll go now." I grin and start walking out the Praetor house. At the door, I turn around. "I'm shitting my pants right now...just to let you know." With that I step out and try to as nonchalantly as possible make my way to the portal. I needed some weapons, my hammer wasn't going to cut it.
___________________________
"Welcome to the twenty-seventh Gladiator Battle in our Mini Colosseum of New Rome!" Travis shouts through his microphone. He was sitting up in one of those spectator booths because him and Connor were the MC for the Gladiator events. Great. Get ready for a world of pain and not just from Oct.
I was standing in one of the dark tunnels on either side of the arena walls. Octavian was in the other waiting to slice my head off. Piper and Annabeth were down here with me, because Jason had to represent Camp Jupiter and Percy had to represent Camp Half-Blood. I don't know where Hazel and Frank are, but they were somewhere. Probably egging Oct on.
"Are you ready, Leo?" Annabeth asks me while she straps the last piece of my cuirass on. I was wearing that traditional body armour the Greeks used to wear. Key words used to.
"Great, just peachy." I reply. Horrible, dying inside, crapping myself.
"You'll be fine." Piper tries to reassure me.
"Hey! Don't use your Charmspeak on me!" Evil, pure evil. Both of these girls. Almost as evil as Oct.
"Sorry, just trying to boost your confidence." She apologises. Yeah yeah. Excuses.
"Just remember, block, stab, block, slash, block, stab. Again and again." Annabeth reminds me again, for the fiftieth time, and passes me a Xiphos, leave blade sword, and taps the gauntlet on my wrist. Out popped a shield I crafted a few weeks back with Festus engraved on it. Festus.
"Yeah, got it." I sigh.
"Today we have the Greek son of Hephaestus, Leo Valdez, versing the Roman Legacy of Apollo and Augury of Camp Jupiter, Ocativan!" Cheers flood the arena and the gates slowly lift.
"Here we go." I gasp. Piper plants a helmet on my face and I step into the arena. As I step in I hear a lot of 'WHOOOO GO LEO!' And 'Octavian will bash your face in!' Peachy.
On the other side of the arena, Octavian was standing there grinning under his roman helmet and wielding a short sword and a giant rectangle shield. I glance down at my tiny circle shield and back at his. Great.
Stepping towards me he spins his sword around and raises his shield. I do the same and my sword falls from my hand. Cursing I bend over to pick it up, but being the stupid me Oct charges me and I fall to the ground.
Laughing.
I get up and grab my sword from the sand.
"Bring it on Octopus." I say, placing my feet in a stable position. He just scoffs and slashes his sword at mine. I bring my sword up and we interlock in a strained position.
"They may not know this, but this battle is a fight to the death." He snarls in my ear and steps back. Holy potatoes. Our swords leave each others embrace and he stabs at me. It connects with my shield and I side step. I swing my sword trying to connect with his shoulder, but he rolls back and swings his shield at my face.
"Holy!" The shield connects with my face and I stumble back.
"Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark!" Connor exclaims. I spit into the sand and dig my feet into the ground.
"Come at me bro!" I shout, slamming my sword against my shield. Annabeth told me once that the Greeks, Celts and Saxons used to do this to intimidate their foes. He charges and I roll underneath his sword swings. Coming up behind him, I kick his legs out from underneath him and he falls flat on his back...on my foot.
"GAH!" I curse. "Get your ass off my foot!"
"Shut up Graceus! You did this!" He rolls off my foot and gets to his feet. I do the same and we face each other again. I stab at him and he brings his giant ass shield up to block.
"You know I would have won by now if we were allowed to use powers." I grunt as I slam the blunt of my sword into his helmet. This guy was tough. Who ever thought gutting stuffed toys made you invincible?
"No you wouldn't off. I would have." He replies and kicks me in the shin. He swings his sword again and I parry with mine. Swinging my shield up I try his technique and connect with his shoulder. He howls in pain and kicks my groin. Damn! Even with freaking armour it still hurts like Hades.
"Ooh! That must hurt!" Travis shouts. People laugh and I crouch down on the floor, my head resting on my sword's hilt.
"Get up Graceus." Oct snarls. Standing up I slam my helmet into his and he stumble back. Ouch! Bad idea. I groan and rub my head. "Just die already!" He screams and starts swinging his sword in an arc and advancing on me.
"I don't want to die!" I say backing up. Stay away from the phsyco.
"It looks like Octavian has gone aggro!" Travis says. You could hear him laughing through the microphone.
"Careful Leo! He might give you a boo boo!" Connor laughs. I look at the spectators box and give them my finger.
"Hey! That's rude! Two points from your ending score!"
"There is no score, Connor. It's who defeats the other in combat." Travis tells him. I ignore them and brace myself for the incoming charge from Octopus. He slams into me and we start wrestling. Along the way my sword flies to the floor and so does his.
"Oh, so basically if you're fighting Octavian it ends in death?"
"Pretty much, Connor."
"Hey!" I shout at them, through my grunting and slamming of fists. "That's making things worse!"
"I'm sorry Mr Valdez, we can't hear you. Could you please speak louder?" Connor asks. I curse and slam my knee into Octopus. He stumbles back and I glance at his sword. He looks at mine and then we make a split second decision. Jumping to the floor I slide towards my sword and stop. Not next to the sword, not above the sword, not just a few centimetres behind the sword. I stopped a full five metres away from it, so basically I fell to the floor where I was standing. Getting up I scramble towards my sword, but before I can pick it up, Oct kicks me into the sand and I fall face first into the ground. You know that saying eat dirt? I'm changing it to eat sand.
Getting up, I spit the sand from my mouth and turn to face Octavian. My sword was still on the floor near his feet and he was wielding his giant shield and tiny ass sword again.
"Parley?" I ask him shrugging. He just kicks my sword away and steps towards me. "No? Okay...I'll just -" I turn around and take off across the arena towards the tunnel I came through. I stop at the barred gate and peer through it.
"Piper!! Annabeth!! Help me!!" I scream into the dark tunnel. "Help!! He's going to murder me!!"
"No can do Leo! Get out there and kick his ass!" Piper shouts back.
"Believe it or not, I'm already out here and I'm going to die! Now help me!" No reply. Damn. I turn around and see Octavian standing in the middle of the arena. I glance up at the spectators box and see Travis giving me a thumbs up and Connor flicking through a Playboy magazine. Eew. Just below the spectators box, Jason was sitting there beside Reyna and Percy. Percy was showing me different techniques of stabbing and slashing people with Riptide and Jason was shaking his hands in the air. Jazz Hands? Reyna was petting her dogs again and staring intently at me. Scary. I look at her eyes. They were really creepy, yet when I looked at them I felt courage.
I turn towards Octavian and step forward.
"Give me my sword Octavian!" I shout across the arena. He picks it up and tosses it through the air. As it approaches me, I duck underneath my hands and it hits the sand beside me. Peeking through my hands I see Oct staring at me with a murderous look and the sword he threw me sticking into the sand. I grab the swords hilt and pull it from the sand. Tapping my wrist, the shield extends and I glance at the engraving of Festus. Festus. I look up at Octavian and walk towards him
"For Festus!" I gain speed and am soon charging like a bull towards Octavian.
"For Happy?" He asks me bringing up his shield.
"Yeah, for Happy." I swing my sword and it connects with his. Stepping back I swing again, then block, then stab, then block, then swing, then block, then stab, then swing. The swing connects the flat of my blade with Octopus' face and he falls to the floor. He groans and lays flat on his back. Pressing the tip of my blade against his throat I grin.
"I win."
"It looks like Leo Valdez wins! I always knew you could do it pal!" Travis shouts. The crowd in the colosseum cheers and I remove my sword from Oct's neck and give him my hand. He just spits on it, eew, and gets to his feet.
"Leave me alone." He snarls and storms from the arena. I rub the spit from my hand into the sand and head towards the exit. I just beat Octavian at his own game.
I raked my brain about five million times and decided on this.
Gladiator Battles.
Who wouldn't want to see Elephant Frank face off against Percy? Well if you do, too bad, cause that isn't gonna happen.
The Rules of the Arena
-No powers.(Boring right?)
-No dirty sparring.
-No assistance from gods.
-No unleashing feral and more than likely mortally dangerous animals on your opponent.
The Arena?
It's pretty much a miniature Colosseum in Camp Jupiter. Reyna thought it would be a great idea to build it and everyone agreed...until Octavian decided that we should host Gladiator Battles inside.
Yes! *Fakes excitement* Octavian, you are a genius! *Barely contained sarcasm*
Reyna and Jason disagreed, but then Oct the Octopus brung out his wildcard. The gods told me too.
Bah! The gods wouldn -actually I could see Ares, Athena, Zeus and Hera agreeing to that. Oh wait! I mean Mars, Minerva, Jupiter and Juno. Hold on a tiddlywink! Why are the Roman gods planets/moons? I mean do they think they were so high and mighty they could just name themselves after the planets and moons? Oh...I get it. They named the planets/moons after them. Oops.
Anyways, back on track.
So Oct decided to create a Gladiator system. Basically twice a week Gladiator Battles were held in the Mini Colosseum and the picks were from one of those glass Lotto bowels you see in the shops/mall(for you Mericans)
It was supposed to bring the people of Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood closer.
Did I just say Camp Half-Blood? Yes I did. It's obviously after the Giant War and they kicked Gaia's ugly mud butt to the bottom of Tartarus. After that everyone was happy, except Oct the Octopus, and the camps created a portal thingy that teleported them to each other. Yay for Hermes!
No one died, cause I don't like those sad endings...I'm kidding I'd love if someone *cough*Frank maybe*cough* died, but just to make everything A-okay I'll make sure no one died.
Now for the story!
...oooohhh wait!
Rating-I dunno T, because it will contain some swearing.
Characters-The Seven and some beans.
Synopsis-Read above you oxymorons!
Disclaimer-I don't own the characters, Uncle Rick does, but I own the story and idea.
Okay I'll try again.
Now for the Story!
________________________
Hi, I'm Valdez, Leo Valdez. Was that enough James Bond for you? No. Too bad. Anyway, as I was saying, I'm Leo Valdez son of Hephaestus and one of the seven of that big bad prophecy about Gaia. Now that that's over and the camps are connected I spend a lot of my time covered in flames and chasing birds across the Fields of Mars. Yeah I get it, I'm a weirdo, but at least I'm not like Piper and Jason or Annabeth and Percy who suck faces twenty-four seven. They act like the worlds about to end again. Even when the world was really ending they didn't suck faces...maybe that's because we were facing like a million giants, but that doesn't matter they still had chances to.
So, anyway, I was just teleporting my way over to Camp Jupiter. Teleporting you say? Yup, Hermes did it for us. What a great guy. He still glares at Annabeth a lot. Not sure why though.
Anyway, when I arrived some dude grabbed my arm and led me all the way to the Praetor building thingy. Huh, I remember when I pretty much blew this part of town us. Oh and that bit over there, and there, and there. Okay I blew a lot of Camp Jupi up, but it wasn't me it was some demon thingy!
When we arrived at the building where Reyna sits and strokes her metal dogs, I went inside and Reyna was sat there on her chair...stroking her dogs, Jason was beside her, Piper was beside him and...Oct the Octopus, Octavian, was standing next to Reyna.
"Um...did I miss a party?" I ask Jason, my bestest friend in the entire universe! Kidding. He's still my best friend, or as those buff dudes, at those schools I've never been to, say, he's my best bash up the little kid friend. Not that Jason and I bash up little kids.
"No. Not yet." He smiles slightly. Hmm, this isn't good. Jason smiling, it's the end of the freaking world. I look at Piper, raising an eyebrow. She looked sympathetic and worried. Did Jason? No. No way!
"Dude!" I exclaim. Gross man. Why tell me? And why is Oct here? Damn!
"Dude what?" Dude what? He's acting innocent. Poor Piper. They're only like seventeen going on eighteen. I know it's legal, but doing that! What's her dad going to say? The kid...oh gods the kid.
"Piper is it what I think?!" I snap my head around to Piper who frowns, then her face scrunches up and she looks damn ugly and disgusted.
"I'm not being the godfather! I'm out man!" I turn around and start my big and awesome leave when Jason calls after me.
"What ever you think is wrong!" Turning back around I storm up to him.
"Then what's going on?!" I ask him. Why I'm gonna kill this guy. To do that to Piper it's jus-
"You're facing Octavian in the Colosseum today." Reyna says. What the flying fudgesticks?
"What the fu-"
"Don't finish that Leo." Piper warns me. Oh shit. I can't fight without my fire and no powers are allowed. Oh. My. Gods. Help me!
"Help me!" I grip Jason's shoulders and start shaking them. "I'm gonna die!"
"Dude, Leo. You need to calm down." I nod my head. Yeah he's right, I can beat Oct, I mean I fought like a million giants. I can do this. Taking a step back I calm my breathing and turn to Octavian.
"Bring it on Octopus."
"Huh." He turns and leaves. What? No death threats? Right...
"He's going to prepare. You should too Valdez." Reyna informs me.
"Sure, I'll be going." Sighing, I face Jason and Pipes. "If I die, bring my body to Festus and bury me in the Argo II.
"Eew. No. You'll stink the boat up. We'll bury you elsewhere thanks." Piper smirks.
"Okay, I'll go now." I grin and start walking out the Praetor house. At the door, I turn around. "I'm shitting my pants right now...just to let you know." With that I step out and try to as nonchalantly as possible make my way to the portal. I needed some weapons, my hammer wasn't going to cut it.
___________________________
"Welcome to the twenty-seventh Gladiator Battle in our Mini Colosseum of New Rome!" Travis shouts through his microphone. He was sitting up in one of those spectator booths because him and Connor were the MC for the Gladiator events. Great. Get ready for a world of pain and not just from Oct.
I was standing in one of the dark tunnels on either side of the arena walls. Octavian was in the other waiting to slice my head off. Piper and Annabeth were down here with me, because Jason had to represent Camp Jupiter and Percy had to represent Camp Half-Blood. I don't know where Hazel and Frank are, but they were somewhere. Probably egging Oct on.
"Are you ready, Leo?" Annabeth asks me while she straps the last piece of my cuirass on. I was wearing that traditional body armour the Greeks used to wear. Key words used to.
"Great, just peachy." I reply. Horrible, dying inside, crapping myself.
"You'll be fine." Piper tries to reassure me.
"Hey! Don't use your Charmspeak on me!" Evil, pure evil. Both of these girls. Almost as evil as Oct.
"Sorry, just trying to boost your confidence." She apologises. Yeah yeah. Excuses.
"Just remember, block, stab, block, slash, block, stab. Again and again." Annabeth reminds me again, for the fiftieth time, and passes me a Xiphos, leave blade sword, and taps the gauntlet on my wrist. Out popped a shield I crafted a few weeks back with Festus engraved on it. Festus.
"Yeah, got it." I sigh.
"Today we have the Greek son of Hephaestus, Leo Valdez, versing the Roman Legacy of Apollo and Augury of Camp Jupiter, Ocativan!" Cheers flood the arena and the gates slowly lift.
"Here we go." I gasp. Piper plants a helmet on my face and I step into the arena. As I step in I hear a lot of 'WHOOOO GO LEO!' And 'Octavian will bash your face in!' Peachy.
On the other side of the arena, Octavian was standing there grinning under his roman helmet and wielding a short sword and a giant rectangle shield. I glance down at my tiny circle shield and back at his. Great.
Stepping towards me he spins his sword around and raises his shield. I do the same and my sword falls from my hand. Cursing I bend over to pick it up, but being the stupid me Oct charges me and I fall to the ground.
Laughing.
I get up and grab my sword from the sand.
"Bring it on Octopus." I say, placing my feet in a stable position. He just scoffs and slashes his sword at mine. I bring my sword up and we interlock in a strained position.
"They may not know this, but this battle is a fight to the death." He snarls in my ear and steps back. Holy potatoes. Our swords leave each others embrace and he stabs at me. It connects with my shield and I side step. I swing my sword trying to connect with his shoulder, but he rolls back and swings his shield at my face.
"Holy!" The shield connects with my face and I stumble back.
"Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark!" Connor exclaims. I spit into the sand and dig my feet into the ground.
"Come at me bro!" I shout, slamming my sword against my shield. Annabeth told me once that the Greeks, Celts and Saxons used to do this to intimidate their foes. He charges and I roll underneath his sword swings. Coming up behind him, I kick his legs out from underneath him and he falls flat on his back...on my foot.
"GAH!" I curse. "Get your ass off my foot!"
"Shut up Graceus! You did this!" He rolls off my foot and gets to his feet. I do the same and we face each other again. I stab at him and he brings his giant ass shield up to block.
"You know I would have won by now if we were allowed to use powers." I grunt as I slam the blunt of my sword into his helmet. This guy was tough. Who ever thought gutting stuffed toys made you invincible?
"No you wouldn't off. I would have." He replies and kicks me in the shin. He swings his sword again and I parry with mine. Swinging my shield up I try his technique and connect with his shoulder. He howls in pain and kicks my groin. Damn! Even with freaking armour it still hurts like Hades.
"Ooh! That must hurt!" Travis shouts. People laugh and I crouch down on the floor, my head resting on my sword's hilt.
"Get up Graceus." Oct snarls. Standing up I slam my helmet into his and he stumble back. Ouch! Bad idea. I groan and rub my head. "Just die already!" He screams and starts swinging his sword in an arc and advancing on me.
"I don't want to die!" I say backing up. Stay away from the phsyco.
"It looks like Octavian has gone aggro!" Travis says. You could hear him laughing through the microphone.
"Careful Leo! He might give you a boo boo!" Connor laughs. I look at the spectators box and give them my finger.
"Hey! That's rude! Two points from your ending score!"
"There is no score, Connor. It's who defeats the other in combat." Travis tells him. I ignore them and brace myself for the incoming charge from Octopus. He slams into me and we start wrestling. Along the way my sword flies to the floor and so does his.
"Oh, so basically if you're fighting Octavian it ends in death?"
"Pretty much, Connor."
"Hey!" I shout at them, through my grunting and slamming of fists. "That's making things worse!"
"I'm sorry Mr Valdez, we can't hear you. Could you please speak louder?" Connor asks. I curse and slam my knee into Octopus. He stumbles back and I glance at his sword. He looks at mine and then we make a split second decision. Jumping to the floor I slide towards my sword and stop. Not next to the sword, not above the sword, not just a few centimetres behind the sword. I stopped a full five metres away from it, so basically I fell to the floor where I was standing. Getting up I scramble towards my sword, but before I can pick it up, Oct kicks me into the sand and I fall face first into the ground. You know that saying eat dirt? I'm changing it to eat sand.
Getting up, I spit the sand from my mouth and turn to face Octavian. My sword was still on the floor near his feet and he was wielding his giant shield and tiny ass sword again.
"Parley?" I ask him shrugging. He just kicks my sword away and steps towards me. "No? Okay...I'll just -" I turn around and take off across the arena towards the tunnel I came through. I stop at the barred gate and peer through it.
"Piper!! Annabeth!! Help me!!" I scream into the dark tunnel. "Help!! He's going to murder me!!"
"No can do Leo! Get out there and kick his ass!" Piper shouts back.
"Believe it or not, I'm already out here and I'm going to die! Now help me!" No reply. Damn. I turn around and see Octavian standing in the middle of the arena. I glance up at the spectators box and see Travis giving me a thumbs up and Connor flicking through a Playboy magazine. Eew. Just below the spectators box, Jason was sitting there beside Reyna and Percy. Percy was showing me different techniques of stabbing and slashing people with Riptide and Jason was shaking his hands in the air. Jazz Hands? Reyna was petting her dogs again and staring intently at me. Scary. I look at her eyes. They were really creepy, yet when I looked at them I felt courage.
I turn towards Octavian and step forward.
"Give me my sword Octavian!" I shout across the arena. He picks it up and tosses it through the air. As it approaches me, I duck underneath my hands and it hits the sand beside me. Peeking through my hands I see Oct staring at me with a murderous look and the sword he threw me sticking into the sand. I grab the swords hilt and pull it from the sand. Tapping my wrist, the shield extends and I glance at the engraving of Festus. Festus. I look up at Octavian and walk towards him
"For Festus!" I gain speed and am soon charging like a bull towards Octavian.
"For Happy?" He asks me bringing up his shield.
"Yeah, for Happy." I swing my sword and it connects with his. Stepping back I swing again, then block, then stab, then block, then swing, then block, then stab, then swing. The swing connects the flat of my blade with Octopus' face and he falls to the floor. He groans and lays flat on his back. Pressing the tip of my blade against his throat I grin.
"I win."
"It looks like Leo Valdez wins! I always knew you could do it pal!" Travis shouts. The crowd in the colosseum cheers and I remove my sword from Oct's neck and give him my hand. He just spits on it, eew, and gets to his feet.
"Leave me alone." He snarls and storms from the arena. I rub the spit from my hand into the sand and head towards the exit. I just beat Octavian at his own game.