The Real World || Percy Jackson Olympians Fanfiction (2)

Chapter 6

Me and Jason met up with Percy and Nico for the sword fighting lesson in the arena. Usually, we would train with a larger cabin, but as it was my first time, we would be training with the two best swordsmen. Percy and Nico were already warming up by the time we got there.

The arena was a sandy circle with stuffed dummies lining the perimeter. Towering around the circle were stone steps, where other campers could sit and look down into the arena. Luckily, today it was empty for our lesson.

"So, who's going to show her how to hold the thing?" Nico sneered.

"It goes in your foot, right?" I added with an equal amount of hostility.

"You show her the basics and I'll duel with her after," Percy spoke up to Jason. "Better not leave these two together, they'll be at each other's throats in no time!"

"That would be a shame," Nico muttered as I walked to the other side of the arena.

Jason made me hold the sword to the dummy as if I were going to attack. Immediately he was shocked at my technique.

"We've got a lot of work to do."

My brother made me stand more loosely to start off with, making sure my feet were shoulder width apart and the hilt was firmly in my palm. At first it was hard to find the right balancing point of the sword, but in only a matter of minutes, me and the sword were working perfectly in unison. Jason called me a natural, but it was mainly the sword's doing. It was as if it were made for me.

"Dude I think we're done over here!" Jason called to Percy.

"Send her over!"

I jogged over to where Percy and Nico were standing. Already I was covered in sweat and I took a minute to praise myself for changing out of camp clothes. Jason had taken one look at my skinny jeans and camp T-shirts and had gone to ask his girlfriend, Piper McLean (daughter of Aphrodite) if she had any spare workout clothes. We were the same size, thankfully, and he had returned with grey jogging bottoms and a black vest top.

Percy was even worse than me, as he had been dueling with Nico. Sweat dripped out of every pore of his body and he had to quickly run a towel over his face. However, Nico seemed not to have a single drop of swear on his brow and was standing there eating some sort of fruit.

"We're going to start off with a simple block and parry. Remember to try and see my next move so you can be prepared for it, and slash out with your sword. Don't hold anything back, and mainly just trust your instincts. You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Nico and Jason had come over to us and now stood to the side, ready to watch. I stood with the correct body posture, one foot in front of the other and my sword extended in front of me. Percy mirrored my actions, squaring me up.

We were both tense, waiting for the first move to be made. I allowed Percy to slice first, as he was the professional. Who knew how many battles he had been in? I saw his muscles tense and knew his sword would be shooting out at me in the next few seconds. My mind went on auto pilot and I spun to the side, missing the blade by centimeters.

As I turned back to face a surprised Percy, I swung my sword at his head, expecting him to duck. He did, and felt my knee connect with his face. The blow seemed to wake him up a bit, and made him concentrate more and to stop underestimating me.

The taller boy rolled on the floor and through my legs, about to slash them on his way. However, I had already jumped over him and had slashed down whilst doing so, ripping his shirt and grazing his skin. We both finished our little movements and ended up facing each other again. There was a fire blazing in Percy's eyes now, which only rallied me up more and made me think I could beat him.

We had stopped with all the twists and turns and were now fighting blade to blade. The sound of metal clanging on metal echoed around the arena, but I barely heard it. My focus was purely on the fight. The flat of Percy's sword, Riptide, kept trying to work itself around the hilt of mine, and, slowly, I became aware of what he was trying to do. If he managed to get his sword into the right position around mine, he could twist Riptide and I would have no choice but to release the grip on my own sword.

As I had no other tactic, I tried to do exactly what Percy was trying to do. I feigned a slice at his face, and as he went up to defend, my sword wrapped around his and I twisted the metal with all my strength.

The sword fell to the floor with a clatter. I kicked Percy in the back of his knee, making him fall to the floor where I stood over him with my sword held high. I could have easily killed him there and then. I had won.

There was silence in the arena as the three boys looked at me in shock. I moved away from Percy, sheathed my sword and held a hand out to the boy on the floor. He accepted my offer and allowed me to help him up. Percy was the first one to speak.

"That was... Amazing. Are you sure you haven't had sword training before?"

"Positive," I replied shyly.

"Beginner's luck," Nico snarled. "She wouldn't last a minute a second time."

"Sorry Di Angelo, I'm all dueled out today. Don't worry though, I'll whoop your butt next time."

In one swift motion Nico had pushed me up against one of the practice dummies and held a sword to my neck. I pushed the thought of me and Newt in the maze out of my mind.

"Careful. Some of us have been practicing for years, and you're still the newbie. You know nothing, solitario," I hadn't understood what the last part was but it sounds Italian.

"Fine, death boy," I muttered, looking to the ground. All lesson I had been acting more confident than I really felt, and to be honest, Nico unnerved me. His black eyes pierced into my soul and made my skin crawl. They literally reminded me of death. Now those eyes had me physically pinned with a knife against my throat, making it hard to breath for fear of being cut.

Nico scanned my eyes once before releasing his grip on me and storming out of the arena. Mental not: Nico Di Angelo would not make a good enemy.