"Around 100 or so," Percy said trying to remember, "but probably more."
"And you guys would let me join? Just like that?! And I don't have to pay anything"
Percy nodded, "yup, you are family after all."
The moment Percy called the child family it looked like he would die from happiness. He looked up at Percy and nodded, "I want to come with you! But...my aunt and uncle probably won't let me."
Percy smiled, "they can try, but I doubt they could stop me."
"I don't know, my uncle is a pretty good lawyer," Percy said before sighing, "he wouldn't let me go and do anything fun. And my aunt would freak out if she even thought I was leaving town."
Percy scratched his chin, "hey Percy, do you actually like them? Your aunt and uncle I mean?"
Little Percy shook his head, "no, my uncle doesn't like me and my aunt's mean. My mom was got all my grandpa's cash, and after she died it went to my aunt on the condition she could only use it if she was taking care of me. So she kinda puts up with me, but no I don't like her at all."
Percy nodded and for the first time noticed the kids clothes, it was very fancy looking and looked like it was made out of very expensive material.
"Okay then kid, want to run away with me?" Percy asked with a smile.
"But my aunt-"
"Relax mini me, I doubt your aunt and uncle can do anything when it comes to us. We demigods have the Gods backing us up, and you are extra special, you have the entire wildlife backing you up."
Little Percy's eyes sparkled again with hope, "you're serious? This isn't a joke right? You'll take me away from them?"
Percy smiled, "yup."
Immediately the little boy tackled Percy and enveloped him in a hug. "Thank you," he whispered.
Percy smiled and patted the boy on the back, "no problem kid. Now," he broke the hug, "do you have anything you want to take with you? Anything at all?"
Little Percy looked thoughtful before his eyes light up, "yeah, I have a few things I want to take."
Percy nodded, "okay then, let's go to your house. You go in and start packing up, I'll be waiting outside. Grab what you need and get out of there without anyone looking."
The kid nodded, "right, but ah, how are we getting to this camp?"
Percy smiled, "leave that to me, oh and before we start," Percy said as he placed a hand over the kid's bruised eye. He then activated his healing skills and used 500 Mp to heal up all the wounds the kid received.
"Wow!" Percy said blinking his eyes repeatedly, "you can heal people?! What else can you do?"
Percy smiled, "kid I could make you a list."
The two Percy's then walked out of the forest heading towards town. They quickly walked towards the residential area filled with rows of houses that looked identical to one another. Personally Percy hated it, and the way little Percy grumbled at the sight of them told him that he hated it as well.
They walked to the 14th house on the right, it looked the same as all the others, Percy didn't really know how little Percy knew that this one was the right now.
"My room is up there," the son of Pan pointed to the window on the roof to the right, "and I think my aunt's home so if I go in there and she sees me, she might start lecturing me again. I kind of ran away in the middle of breakfast."
PErcy nodded, "sneaking in isn't a problem," Percy then picked up the little kid with one arm and jumped high enough to clear the ground floor and reach the roof.
"This is so cool!" Little Percy shouted.
"Quite mini me!" Percy hissed as he slid down the roof and reached the window. He then pushed just enough of his earthquake vibrations into the window frame to loosen the latch on it causing it to swing open.
Percy entered the room and dropped the son of Pan off. "Just give me a second and I'll get everything," Little Percy said as he grabbed his bag and began flying through the room picking up things left and right.
While he was doing that Percy looked around the room. The kid didn't have anything unique in his room, it just looked so bland and boring. There weren't any pictures up, no photos, no books. There was nothing, except one small table and a bed.
"I'm ready," little Percy said.
Percy looked over his shoulder in surprise, "that was fast. What did you bring?"
"A few clothes, some cash and this," he opened his arms revealing a small potted plant inside, "my aunt and uncle were very strict about how my room could look and be, I didn't really have much to be attached to, but I have this. They wanted me to get rid of it, but I hide it away from them."
Percy smiled, "well you are a son of Pan, it would be insulting if you didn't have a plant with you. Anyway, you sure you don't want anything else?"
The boy nodded, "I have everything I need."
"Do you want to write a note or something? I know you hate them but they deserve to know where you are."
Pan's son shook his head, "they wouldn't care. All they would want is the money, if I just leave out of the blue they might get into trouble with the police or something. Maybe then they might get what's coming to them."
Percy smiled, "okay then," the then opened his inventory and enlarged it, "you may want to close your eyes for this part."
The son of Pan nodded and quickly closed his eyes. Percy picked him up and put him into his inventory for safe keeping, now he didn't have to drag the kid along when he went to Las Vegas.
Percy jumped out of the window and ran away from the house. Once he was sure no one saw him Percy slid up his goggle, activated his helmet and immediately took off again. With his stomach half full Percy knew he had just enough energy to travel to LV as he quickly left the edge of Utah running into the center of the state.
It took another hour but by 10 in the morning Percy had reached Las Vegas.
The city was..... Disappointing to say the least. Everything just looked tired and worn out. Maybe it was because it was 10 in the morning, but no one really seemed all that festive. The attractions were interesting, but Percy was offended by the fake Lady Liberty, as a New Yorker he knew the real on and this one was just a cheap knock off.
Percy spent an hour walking around and munching on any road side food he could get his hands on. He asked for directions for the Lotus hotel and casino and mostly got wrong directions, the middle finger or in one case got asked out by a prostitute....yeah, that last one was not an experience he wanted to share.
Eventually though Percy found the Lotus Hotel and casino, it looked just like an ordinary hotel, but there was something about it that pissed Percy off. Using his newly acquired mana scene PErcy tried to feel out what type of magic was going on in there;
Mind manipulation charm,
A charm placed on all those who enter to never want to leave. It is activated by $% #$ #$% and traps the user inside forever.
Percy raised an eyebrow at this. Guess he needed to increase his Mana sense level to find out more about the charm. But either way Percy wasn't really all that bothered, since their magic was meantal based it wouldn't effect him thanks to the Gamer's mind skill.
Percy quickly entered the casino and immediately he was assaulted by a barrage of lights and colours. The inside of the casino looked like a never ending party with lights and music assaulting Percy's scenes. It was the exact opposite to the quiet city just outside it's door.
Just then a man in a well dressed suit walked up to Percy and smiled, "as our honored guest! We have your room ready sir, just come this way and-"
"Yeah shut up, your mental manipulations won't work on me asshole," Percy cut the man off, "I'm here looking for someone, well two someones, two kids that has been here since the 1940's, have you seen them?"
The man shook his head, "I'm afraid I do not know what you mean sir. But you are welcome to check around if you wish, in fact here," he gave Percy a green casino card, "this will grant you unlimited access to the ballroom and gaming area. Why don't you look around? I'm sure you'll find your friends around here somewhere."
Percy nodded accepting the card, "thanks man, you're alright. Sorry about calling you an asshole before."
"It's quite alright sir, please enjoy your stay," the man then bowed and walked away leaving Percy alone. PErcy looked at his card and used Observe;
Lotus Cash Card,
This card may be used as a debit card anywhere.
Money contained within— Infinite.
Percy's eyes nearly threatened to pop out of his eyes. He use this Mist control to try and check whether the Mist was playing games with him, but no, it was true. The card had infinite money, and now it was Percy's.
'I am so going to spoil mom with this thing,' Percy told himself as he put the card in his jacket and walked around the place searching for Nico and Bianca.
The Hotel itself was huge, it was around 20 stories tall, and more seemed to be on the way. There was an indoor water slide that Percy so wanted to try along with a bungee rope bridge in the lobby. The real attraction though was the huge buffet located near Gaming room.
Percy's eyes widened in wonder, they was so much of them, so many different types of food! Percy went super speed and began stuffing his face full of every type of food he could get, the Mcdonald's was wearing off already.
Percy had eaten 12 pizza pies, 13 apple pies, 23 vanilla milkshakes, 40 boxes of chicken nuggets and one plate of salad. What? He wanted to be healthy.
The food also didn't seem to be running out, it just kept coming and coming and Percy ate until he was full. The other guests didn't even look at him funny, they seemed like they weren't bothered, which suited Percy just fine.
'Damn I spent a lot of time eating already,' Percy thought out as he looked to his watch, which was suddenly now working, again. 'That's it I need a new watch. Maybe I can get the Hephaestus kids to make me one.'
After Percy ate his fill he opened up his inventory and spent the next hour stuffing it full of food. 'This is heaven!' Percy thought to himself as he pulled more and more food into his inventory, he decided that if he ever ran low on food ever again he should totally come here, it was so worth the four hour run.
Soon Percy's inventory was filled with enough food to last any normal human 2 years. Percy then finally drew himself away from the buffet and went to the Gaming room where it seemed a lot of the people were gathered.
Percy activated his 8.0 Eyesight and began searching the room for Nico and Bianca. He focused on short people, after all they were supposed to be 12 and 10. Percy's eyes flew through the room but there were just too many people, he needed to do something else.
"NICO? BIANCA?!" Percy began shouting at the top of his voice as he walked along the gaming room. He shouted for hours but he never got a response. Eventually though PErcy decided to take a break and leaned on the wall looking across the room for any sign of the children of Hades.
Just then Percy's eyes were suddenly drawn towards an empty coming counsel sitting right in front of him. Percy approached the machine cautiously and looked at the title, 'My Like if a Video Game.'
Percy wanted to chuckle at the name for the game, 'sorry man my life already is a video game.' Percy walked away from the counsel and began his search again, it had been at least an three hours since he came in here and he had nothing to show for it.
PErcy eventually felt like giving up when suddenly he had an idea. If they were the children of Hades that meant they probably could control the shadows. So all Percy had to do is use his man scent and feel for people with that ability!
Percy immediately closed his eyes and activated Gamer's mind drowning out the sound form the roo. He reached out with his mana sense skill and spread it outwards. It went out like a sonar wave and a huge barrage of information came back to Percy.
Ping!
A new skill has been created!
Mana wavesense , Lv-1 — A wave of mana is sent outwards allowing you to feel the area around you like a sonar. Cost — 200 MP
It seemed the air itself was infected with the mind manipulation charm and that the gaming console everyone was playing was the thing that finally trapped a person here. Percy could also feel a variety of different demigods inside the casino, some where children of Apollo, others were children of Athena, but one....one felt unique, almost like Percy knew that scent of mana.
Percy eyes opened wide as he quickly turned to that familiar scent of mana and found a man standing in front of him over a billiards table playing with other people. Percy looked at the man's name and title;
Jonathan Filius, Son of Poseidon
Lv— 28
Percy's eyes shot open, 'another son of Poseidon?! How the hell is this guy alive?!' Percy looked at the man and noticed he looked old, around his late 20's to say the least. The man also was dressed like an american soldier during world war 2, meaning this man had been trapped in here the same time as Nico and Bianca!
Percy then looked around, there were so many demigod inside this place. A daughter of Hermes that looked like he came right out of the 60's, a son of Ares dressed up like a punk with a purple mohawk, a daughter of Demetre that resembled someone from the late 1920's, a son of Hecate that looked like he was part of a biker gang.
They all were trapped in here, most were around Percy's age, a few older like his....his brother.
'I need to get them out of here,' Percy realised, 'I need to get them all out of here. But....but if I do then will they survive? The world outside has changed so much....would they be able to adapt?...should I even try? No! No! I cannot be the judge on this, I will not! They will decided, I'll take them back to camp, if they don't want to stay and wish to come back to the casino then fine, but I will give them that choice.'
So Percy moved, he activated his super speed and grabbed every single one of the demigod he could find. He first grabbed his half brother Jonathan and threw him into the inventory. He quickly ran through the game room floor and grab each and every demigod he could and then dropped them into his inventory.
Percy had collected a total of 21 new demigod, not including little Percy, but he still wasn't done.
"Stop right there!" A security gaurd called out as several started to chase after Percy.
"Oh bite me," Percy mummered as he poured mana into his crystal and summoned Zed, Timmy and Craig. The monsters looked at Percy for orders, "distract them, I need to get something."
The three nodded and they launched into battle with the security guards, who were actually monsters in disguise. The moment the battle started the monsters shed of their skins and revealed a huge plant like body underneath. Roots and vines made up their muscles while tree barks made up their bones.
