The New Generation--Chapter 6: Weapons... Maybe Not a Good Idea

    Soon, Leia had rounded up all of her friends. "You know why you're here, right?" she asked them.

     All of them nodded. "This is awesome!" Festus squeaked. "Do I get to blow up stuff? I get to, right? Oh! Do I also get to--"

     "Shush!" Silena muttered, kicking him in the shin. He yelped and fell silent.

     "Okay," Leia said, amused. "We have to leave soon. If we don't, well..." she shuddered. "Point is, we gotta hurry. I think we should train, and... stuff."

     "We don't even have weapons yet!" cried Sammy in alarm. "How are we going to prepare?"

     "I'm sure that can be arranged." A calm voice spoke. The five children turned simultaneously and saw their parents striding up to them. 

     "Chiron says that you have a maximum of three days to train." Uncle Jason informed them. "So you better learn quick."

     "We will!" Leia said truthfully. "Can we go get our weapons right now?"

     Her father chuckled at her eagerness. "Sure, I guess. Annabeth, you get them to the armory. Meanwhile, I gotta go tell Grover something..." and he jogged off towards the woods. 

     Leia's mother led them to a small shack. Opening the door, she said, "This is the armory, where all of the weapon and armor that we have is stored. Choose your weapon, and then we'll go down to the arena."

     Leia wandered around the shack, trying to decide which one to pick. After a few minutes, she began to get frustrated. "How will I know if a weapon is right for me?" she asked her mother.

     "It'll just feel right, Leia. It won't feel awkward or heavy or whatever. You have to be able to fight with it, use it like it's one of your own limbs."

    Sighing, Leia turned and started to search again. I'm sure not good with bows! she thought, ruling out that possibility. She still remembered the China cabinet incident, which had led to the confiscation of her Nerf bow. Her mother had not been happy.

     My father always said that swords were his strong suit... Leia mused. She headed towards the sword section and looked over the blades. Just when she was about to give up, a flash caught her eye. There was a sword, in the very top corner, that had caught the light. Leia grabbed the hilt and looked it over.

     The blade was a bronze color, about two and half feet long. The hilt was wrapped in black leather, with little bronze studs stuck around it. A large, blue bead was on the bottom.

     Leia took an experimental swing. It felt just right in her hands, and just like her mother had described it--like one of her own limbs. There was just one problem...

     "Where do I keep it?" Leia asked her mother.

     "Well, I have an idea... press that blue bead, Leia."

     She did as she was told. The sword began to shrink until it was about the size of a pen. But that wasn't all. It started morphing, the end rounding into a curve, the hilt's leather grip fading into blue. Soon Leia was holding a small ballpoint pen.

     "Whoa!" Leia cried in delight. "How did it do that?"

     Her mother smiled. "Magic, Leia. Now, throw it away."

     Leia wasn't sure if she heard correctly. "Throw it away?" she asked in disbelief.

     "Over there, by the cabins."

     "But--"

     "Do as I say, Leia."

     So Leia stepped forward and flung the pen as far as she could throw, confused about why her mother would tell her to do this. Surely she wasn't going to have to pick another weapon?

     Her mother waited for a few seconds, while Leia waited impatiently. Finally her mother said, "Check your pocket."

     Leia dug around in her jacket pocket and pulled a cylindrical object out. It was the pen! "What--?" she asked in wonder.

     "Just as I thought," her mother muttered. "This is just like your father's sword, Leia. Many of the campers in his days thought he was the best swordfighter in Camp Half-Blood history. His sword, Riptide, was just like this one--it was a ballpoint pen, and if he uncapped it it sprang into sword form. If he discarded the cap, it would also reappear in his pocket, so he could touch it to the blade's tip and return it into pen form." 

     Leia listened in awe and stared at the pen in her hands. "So... I guess this is kind of my weapon now?" she said excitedly. Her mother nodded.

     Leia grinned and stuck it in her pocket, then turned and headed over to her friends. Sammy was testing out a bow, pulling back the string and aiming for a tree about twenty feet away. Silena stared at a knife in her hands for a few moments, then looked up at her mother and mumbled something that Leia couldn't hear. Bianca had a sword as well, but the color of the blade was significantly different--pure black. Staring at it made Leia feel... frightened. What was that metal?

     Before she could ask Bianca, she noticed Festus standing off to the right, looking dejectedly at Leia's other friends. "What's wrong?" she asked him worriedly. He sighed and didn't answer. He was acting nothing like the Festus Leia knew.

     "What's wrong?" she repeated.

     "I can't... I can't find a weapon that suits me." Festus whispered. Leia immediately felt bad, standing with her newly acquired sword while Festus couldn't find any weapon at all.

     "I'm sure you can find something!" Leia tried to reassure her friend, but her efforts seemed not to have any effect. Festus sighed again and stared at the forest off in the distance.

     "Hey, Festus! What's the matter?" A voice piped up. Leia turned to see Festus's father, Leo. He was walking over to them, a concerned look on his face. "You're never like this. Come on, let me see that smile!"

     Festus didn't even look up.

     "What are you--ohhhh..." Leo said, looking around at Leia's friends all admiring their weapons. Then his eyes drifted back to Festus. "I know a place where you can get a really cool weapon! In fact, I got mine there!"

     Festus's face brightened as he stared up at his father. "Really?" he asked Leo incredulously.

     "Yep." Leo turned and grabbed Festus's hand. "Lez go!"

     Leia followed them, not knowing what to do. She followed Leo across the camp, struggling to keep up with the energetic demigod. They ran past an enormous golden dragon wrapped around a tree, into the forest. 

     Soon, they reached an old, enormous tree. Festus and Leia were confused. "Why did you take us to a... tree?" Leia asked Festus's father. He grinned.

     "This is the best part!" he exclaimed. Leo raised his hands and held them out towards the trunk. Suddenly, a blast of fire shot towards the tree. 

     "No!" Leia screamed, certain that he was going to set the forest on fire. However, when the fire hit the tree trunk, part of the bark slid open, revealing a doorway. Scratched on the frame of the doorway were letters spelling out: Bunker 9.

     Leia and Festus followed Leo inside. Once Leia actually comprehended what she saw, her mouth dropped.

     "What?..." she asked in wonder.

     Leo grinned again and spread his hands. "Welcome to Bunker 9, children."

     "Look at this!" Festus exclaimed, running over to one of the tables. "This design is amazing! Did you do this, dad?"

     "Sure did." Leo smiled proudly. "Let me show you where I got my toolbelt."

     "Your toolbelt?" Leia inquired, confused.

     "My dad had a magical toolbelt, back in his days." Festus explained. "He could pull anything out of it, just as long as it wasn't too big. Some of his most useful things were screwdrivers, hammers, breath mints--"

     "Breath mints?"

     "AND... here's all the weapons!" Leo announced. "See here, these are some swords, bows, daggers, knives, spears... you name it, it's here! Not particularly good with any of them--I do remember that broken machine--but you guys should be fine!" 

     Festus darted over to the shelves full of weapons and looked over the choices. "How am I going to choose?" he asked in awe.

     Leia didn't answer; she was too busy looking around. There were tables full of blueprints and pencils. Multiple toolboxes lay around the large room, and wrenches were scattered everywhere. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a massive piece of... wood.

     She spun toward that direction and gaped. It was a ship, Leia noticed in surprise. The figurehead was a giant golden dragon head. It took up the space of about five rooms, and Bunker 9 rooms were HUGE.

     "That's the Argo II."

     Leia turned around and saw Leo gazing wistfully up at the dragon head. "She's a beauty, huh? Took the Seven on their quest, me included. Festus... well, he has an even longer story."

     "Hey! Look what I got!" A voice startled them out of their peaceful mood. Festus charged toward them, with a hammer in his hand.

     "I chose this hammer!" He said to Leo. Leo chuckled.

     "That's a magic hammer, son. You'll find out what it does soon enough." Leo promised. Festus's eyes told Leia that he was curious, but he remained silent.

     "Come on, Leia. Let's go get your friends."