Percy Jackson: the Winter Gamer

As the months passed, Thalia's tree grew weaker and weaker and the magical border with it. The campers formed a border control under the Ares cabin and the nymphs began carrying bows to defend against monsters which now crossed through the forest whenever they wished. The previous controlled monster population in the forest grew beyond their means to handle now that the monsters could smell the scent of the couple dozen demigods in the camp, more as the summer vacation drew near and more campers returned to it. The attacks were nearly daily by the time that Mr D fired Chiron. Someone had to be blamed for the sorry state the camp was in and the gods know Mr D would never choose himself to punish.

King Tantalus was named as their new activities director, yes, that Tantalus, plucked right from the fields of punishment. He would begin his attendance one fateful day, when Alexander was assigned border patrol. The morning was rather slow, a few monsters came but their archers shot them down before they could come to close. The real danger came later that day when they heard something big charging at them. It sounded like Mountains of metal rattling with a thunderous temper. Looking down the hill, they saw what was coming and none of them liked what they saw, elephant sized bulls, made entirely of glowing, bronze metal, spewing fire from their nostrils. The arrows that were ineffective as they charged right through the volleys. Clarisse was the first to launch an attack, stabbing her spear at one of the bronze monstrosities, though it simply snapped off, as the bull ran past her. The other bull charged at Alexander. He couldn't risk being killed by that, so, he called in desperation, "anemo", wings sprouted from his back and he flew upwards.

"Get back down here, snowhead", Clarisse called up, "we need to kill these fuckers"

Silently, he began concentrating and the air around him crackled with electricity as the sky filled with storm clouds. It began raining on them, making the heat much more bearable as the bulls were cooled off. A lightning bolt struck one of the bulls, stunning it for half a second.

"I take that back, keep doing what you are doing, Dorn", Clarisse turned back to the bulls and called out orders. As Alexander kept the storm going, he noticed three figures running at them, two he recognised, Percy and Annabeth but the third, a cyclops called Tyson was foreign to him. He watched Percy try and fight the bulls as Tyson struggled against the camp border. He didn't seem to be chasing them.

"I, Annabeth Chase invite you into camp" Annabeth called. Was she crazy? Inviting another monster into camp? Hadn't they enough trouble already? The storm lessened, fuck, he couldn't think about that now, his rain was the only thing keeping his fellow campers from being cooked alive. Another thunderbolt struck one of the bulls. Suddenly, he felt his storm being strengthened by another presence. His eyes shot down to Percy who was looking up, arms raised, he was the son of the stormbringer after all. The storm grew wilder but he managed to control it somehow, keeping the focus on the bulls. The cyclops, Tyson, he smashed one of the bulls as Wulfgang smashed the other. The fight was seemingly over. He let go of the storm, as did Percy. The previous downpour diminished to a drizzle and then to sunlight once more. Alexander looked into the distance, he couldn't see any more monsters approaching, so he flew down, his wings flapping in the air. He touched down to the ground and walked right past Percy to Wulfgang. Despite his storm cooling down the bulls, they were still really hot and the son of Herakles had smashed it with his bare hands. He took the teens hands and channeled his healing magic into them. The blistering wounds slowly knitted themselves together. He had demonstrated more of his powers since the end of summer. There was a betting pool as to whose legacy he was. Most tipped on Apollo or Athena, though there were bets for plenty of others.

"Not bad, snowy", Clarisse padded him on the shoulder, "I'll take seaweed brain and wise girl, along with that… thing to Chiron, he wanted to see him if he returned before he had to leave. You can heal those who are injured and organise the others to haul those heaps of metal back to the forges"

"Will do", he did a mock salute and walked over to the other injured kids. Their injuries would heal, though he couldn't heal them entirely himself and they would leave scars but in the end, they would heal, though they would leave some pretty nasty scars. Wulfgang, Alexander and the other unwounded campers dragged the mountains of celestial bronze to the forges. Soon after, the dinner shell sounded and they walked back to the dining pavilion.

After everyone had filed in, Percy and Tyson walked in, people were murmuring, "who brought that in?"

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Peter Johnson, my millennium is complete", Mr D drawled, nursing his goblet filled with Diet Coke.

"It is Percy Jackson… sir", he could feel the venom dripping from his tone and decided to help a bit, pushing waves of calmness into the green eyes demigod.

"Yes, well, as you young people say these days: whatever" Mr D dismissed the thirteen year old. Next to Mr D sat the new activities director, a pale, unwashed and terribly thin man, Tantalus. Mr D leaned over to Tantalus and said, "this one you'll have to look out for. Poseidon's kid, y'know"

"Oh- yes I've heard about that one, the kindly ones have mentioned him when they came to see I hadn't escaped, pointless really…", he turned to the campers and spoke, much louder and clearer now, "I am King Tantalus. On special assignment here until, well, until my lord Dionysus decides otherwise and you, Perseus Jackson, I'll expect you to refrain from causing any more trouble"

"Trouble?!"

Alex pushed another wave of calmness into Percy.

A newspaper appeared. Alexander was too far away to read it.

"Yes, trouble. You caused plenty of it last summer, as I understand"

A plate of ribs was placed in front of him and he licked his lips, speaking to the goblet, " Root beer, Barq's special stock 1967"

The goblet filled with foamy liquid.

"Go on old fellow, maybe this time, it'll work", Dionysus encouraged but as soon as his fingers got anywhere near food or drink, it sped away from him. He looked resigned.

"Ah, well, perhaps a few more days. Believe me, old chap, working at this camp will be torture enough. Your old curse will fade eventually", mr D's voice was dripping with sickly sweet false sympathy.

"You are the one who stands in a pool to you neck and a fruit tree above you but as soon as you reach for either, it recedes. I wonder what you have done to deserve that?"

"I'll be watching you, Perseus Jackson, I don't want any trouble at camp", Tantalus hissed.

"Your camp has troubles already… sir"

"Oh go sit down, Johnson, let the man finish his speech", Mr D scolded him.

"Come on Tyson"

"Oh no, the monster stays here. We must decide what do do with it…"

"Him" Percy spat, "his name is Tyson. Tyson saved the camp, he pounded one of those bronze bulls, otherwise, they would've burned down the entire place.

"Yes and what a pity that would've been. Leave, we will decide its fate", he dismissed him.

Percy whispered something to the baby cyclops and sat down at table three.

They sacrificed their portions of their meals and ate quietly. When they were done, Tantalus cleared his throat, "another fine meal, or so I am told and here on my first day of authority, I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here with you all. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture- erm interact, with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat"

Mr D chortled.

"And now, some changes! We are going to reinstate the chariot races!"

Whispers flew around the room.

"I know they were discontinued some years ago due to… logistical difficulties-"

"Three dead and many more injured", the Apollo head counselor shouted.

"Yes, yes but I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh and I will mention now, the winning team's cabin will be exempt from the chores in the month they win"

More whispers filled the pavilion and almost everyone seemed excited, everyone but Clarisse.

"But sir! What about patrol duty, if we drop everything to ready our chariots--"

"Ah, our brave hero. Brave Clarisse who single handily bested the bronze bulls!"

"B- but I didn't-"

"And modest too, not to worry dear, this is a summer camp! We are here to enjoy ourselves, right? And now before we proceed to the campfire and sing along, there is one more problem we need to solve! Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen it fit, for some reason, to bring this here. Now of course, Cyclopses have a reputation for being blood thirsty and mindless mobsters, so, we should obviously chase it into the woods, weapons drawn and hunt it to return to the underworld. We all agree on that- so let us-" Tantalus couldn't finish speaking before a green, hologram trident appeared above Tyson's head.

"Looks like you cabin won't be as empty any more Johnson", Mr D chuckled.