Ocean Song was happy.
Why wouldn't he be?
Breaking through a new realm, consolidating his insights, then slapping the face of his previous foe.
If his previous foe weren't broken and crying after his return, could he even call himself a proper Cultivator?
He knew the likes of the other protagonists from the sacred texts would be proud.
Now it was time to reveal himself to his old acquaintances and help them accelerate their cultivation.
The Camp Half-Blood Sect was the same as he remembered.
The sun was going to set soon, but there weren't many people running around even if a few faces turned to look his way as he strolled through the camp.
They must have been admiring his majesty and grace.
Ocean Song stood there, amidst their gazes, hands clasped behind his back, robes billowing heroically.
The adorning gazes of the masses.
It was the small things in one's cultivation journey that made it worthwhile.
Unbeknownst to him, they were just confused as to who he was and what he was doing there. And why he was standing on top of a toilet in the middle of the camp courtyard.
That was until a certain Centaur was absentmindedly walking through the camp.
He held a newspaper in one hand, enjoying a break after a long day, doing crosswords as he likes to do in his spare time. And on the other hand, he had a sandwich he just acquired from the mess hall.
"Oh no." He dropped both as he quickly trotted over to the Cyclops—or not Cyclops; he wasn't sure on that point. But he quickly ran over, knowing who he was.
"Greetings, Fellow Daoist!" Ocean Song said happily, cupping his hands and politely bowing as it is customary between peers.
Chiron blinked at it but wasn't thrown off. "Why are you here? How are you here?"
"Which question would you like me to answer, fellow Daoist?"
"How did you get through the barrier??" He was confused because monsters couldn't come in without explicit permission.
Granted, that permission could be essentially given by any of the gods—the main gods.
"I flew inside!" He responded.
"How?"
"On my sword, of course." Ocean Song responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"That's not…" Chiron let out a sigh, remembering the last time they met and he just flew off on a sword, of all things. "That's not what I meant…" He just shook his head and suddenly felt like he was dealing with Dionysus. "You can't just…come in without permission."
Ocean Song paused. "I can't?"
"No."
"...Then how did I get in?"
"That's what I want to know." Chiron tone took an edge, not out of anger, but due to the slow grinding of his wits down.
Ocean stared at him silently for several moments before speaking again. "Fellow Daoist! I would like to report a hole in your security!"
It took a significant amount of effort for Chiron to resist face-palming. "You need permission from one of the gods."
"Oh."
Chiron finally let out a sigh, seeing that he understood it. "Would you please –"
"Behold!" He pulled out a phone. "My Sect Phone." He ignored Chiron and dialed a number."
Chiron did a double take because it was a normal phone with nothing special about it except it had a sword sticker on the back.
"Hello?"
"Greetings!"
"Oh, it's you. I really should save your number. What do you want?"
"I require the words of a goddess such as yourself!" Ocean Song responded, indicating he was talking to Mel—Rather Hel – in this case.
"...what?"
"I need you, as a goddess, to give me permission to enter Camp Half-Blood." Ocean Zone explained.
"Oh." She said casually. "Sure, whatever. You can go in or out if you want. I'm busy with dinner, so if that's all, I'm going."
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist!"
"No Problem." She hung up.
Ocean Song looked at Chiron expectantly. "There, I have permission."
Chiron's eye twitched. "Who was that, exactly?" He wanted to be doubly sure before he offended anyone.
"Hel." Ocean Song replied. "Goddess of Death, Ruler of Helheim, etc., etc."
Chiron's mouth opened to respond, but he found the words difficult to formulate. "I beg your pardon?"
"Hell, the—"
Chiron held his hand, stopping him. "That's what I thought I heard. You can't ask Gods from other Pantheons for permission."
"You really should specify your rules better." Ocean Song spoke in a chiding voice. "It only builds confusion."
His eye twitched again. "You need permission from a god—" He stopped himself. "That owns the camp. One of the Cabin Owners."
Ocean Song knew what he must do then.
Special technique: calling in a senior.
He threw down an altar right in front of Chiron. One of his patented—pending—makeshift altars to deploy on demand.
Chiron recognized it, of course; he knew the symbols of all deities.
He had forgotten that there was now another god who had a cabin in the camp, a lesser god by most metrics.
"A God of Olympus."
Ocean Song barely missed a beat as he threw down another altar.
This one of Poseidon.
Chiron threw his arms up. "Fine, just don't cause trouble."
At this point, he realized it was pointless. He knew Poseidon would casually give permission, so what even was the point.
"I shall find my junior brothers then!" Ocean Song jumped off the toilet.
"...Why is that there?"
" I –"
"Actually, I don't want to know." Chiron let out a sigh. "Just…do something with it, please?"
He turned around and walked away.
Ocean Song considered the Great Teacher's words.
He didn't actually want the toilet; it wasn't on par with the golden and jeweled one he…acquired earlier.
Thus, he had a brilliant idea.
"I saw this in a movie once." He knelt down, taking out a marker and writing words on the porcelain throne.
He looked it over and nodded to himself proudly and pointed his finger at the toilet, and a stream of qi hit it, wrapping around it before seeping inside.
With permission granted, he went to go find Percy and Malcolm!
As Ocean Song left, some of the curious campers wandered over, wondering why there was a toilet in the middle of the campgrounds.
They walked up to see that there was something written on it.
'Whosoever holds this toilet, should they be worthy, shall possess all the power of Ares.'
They were confused by what this meant, but when someone tried to lift it up, they realized that it wouldn't budge.
It started to draw a crowd as many of the campers began trying to lift the toilet up.
[Line Break]
Ocean Song swept out his Divine Sense and found who he was looking for.
A bit away from the camp, near the lake, he found both Percy and Malcom sparring.
It was more playful than competitive or serious.
Ocean Song touched the sandy beach, not making a sound, the sands beneath his feet not even moving.
The two younger boys swung their swords at one another, only for Percy's eyes to widen mid-fight as he nearly got smacked in the head.
"Pimp Bro!"
Malcolm also stopped as well.
"Teacher!"
"You both have improved; I am pleased." Ocean Song spoke like the wise and worldly Cultivator that he was. "It seems that you both have made great progress in your cultivation. Come, let me take a look at your cultivation bases; sit down cross-legged in front of me."
Percy just shrugged while Malcolm was a bit more enthusiastic.
At first, Malcolm was just confused about most of what Ocean Song said, even skeptical, but, well…the results spoke for themselves.
It was no weirder than finding out that his mom was a Greek goddess and monsters ran around under the cover of magical mist.
First, Ocean Song put a hand on Percy's back. "Rotate your cultivation base; I will see how you've been doing."
He felt the Qi inside his junior brother start to move through his meridians.
"Yes, yes, you're close to the Peak of the Qi Condensation Realm. Truly, my little brother is a genius."
"Really? All my teachers say I'm special." Percy responded. "The wrong kind of special."
"Don't worry, Junior brother! My teachers also said the same!" Ocean Song nodded.
"Wait, you went to school?"
"Next, Malcolm!" Ocean Song put a hand on his first student's back, and his eyes widened. "You're about to break through. Have you felt like you're holding back an invisible tide and it's becoming stronger and stronger?"
"Uh…I've felt bloated." Malcolm responded.
"Same thing really." Ocean Song waved it off. "You're right at the tipping point. I'll help you break through." Ocean Song sat cross-legged and put both hands on Malcolm's back.
"What do I do?"
"Rotate your cultivation base as fast as possible. All your meridians are clear; the Qi needs to flow like a cyclone through your body, faster and faster, and push it to form a gas into a liquid state, then gather it into a pool."
Malcolm was a child of Athena, a child of Wisdom.
Despite his words sounding nonsensical, Malcolm could grasp what he needed to do and began to listen to Ocean Song's orders.
It was as if an invisible hand guided him gently.
A thin strand of Ocean Song's Qi entered Malcolm's body and helped facilitate the process.
The Qi within him rotated through all his meridians, forming a full cycle, spinning faster and faster in his body as sweat began to drip from his brow.
His body began to heat up, and Percy could see the steam start to waft off the reddening skin.
"Good, keep going. You will feel as if there is an invisible barrier; don't let it stop you. Assault it, grind it down. Your Qi is your weapon; attack it!" Ocean Song ordered.
Condensing and consolidating were the premises of the early realms.
"Faster and faster, don't doubt yourself." He continued his words of encouragement.
Malcolm spat out a mouthful of blood that surged up in his throat, and Ocean Song's eyes widened.
"Very good! You are becoming a proper cultivator!"
Malcolm didn't know what that meant, but he was focused almost entirely on what was happening inside his own body.
"You're almost there!"
Ocean Song gave him just a teeniest bit more help.
That single strand of Qi surged inside him and his internal Cycle accelerated fast enough that it formed an internal cyclone, and his internal Qi began to solidify, or liquify in this case.
"Form it properly. Let your Qi gather into a calm pool, the eye of the storm."
It was like dripping from a faucet while the pipes continued to nearly burst at the seams.
Drip by drip.
He didn't have the same benefits that Ocean Song or Percy had with their connection to water, in that they could forgo lots of caution and just push their bodies past the brink only to heal moments later.
Despite all this being explained, it actually only happened in a few moments in real time.
The cyclone inside him began to calm; it began to lose its fury within his meridians as he no longer had the 'fuel' to keep it sustained.
The gaseous Qi within him thinned out until it dispersed almost completely.
Now, he had a pool of qi sitting inside his Dantian.
"Well done! You have successfully broken through to the foundation establishment realm. This Realm is the foundation by which your future Cultivation sits upon! Don't get up; stay still and feel the changes within your body. Your Qi is changed as well, it's less ethereal, it's thicker, stronger, and each unit of your Qi carries with it magnitudes more power than previous."
"What's that smell?" Percy covered his nose and mouth.
"The smell of success, junior brother." Ocean Song stood up, clasping his hands behind his back. "And also his body pushing out impurities. Foundation establishment both builds your cultivation foundation and the foundation of your body. A strong cultivation base needs the support of a strong body. Hidden mortal ailments you may have had, bones that broke when you were younger and didn't heal right, bad cholesterol, etc., have been corrected. This is the body pushing all of that out."
"It smells like poop," Percy added.
"Indeed." Ocean Song nodded sagely.
"I can hear you both." Malcolm deadpanned.
Ocean Song scrunched his nose. "Okay, consolidation time over; time for a break."
"Wait, what?" Malcolm blurted out, confused as Ocean Song lifted him up by the collar.
"Yeet." He threw Malcolm into the lake to wash him off.
"I gotta do that too, right?" Percy asked.
"You're almost there. You're right around the Peak of Qi Condensation. You need to consolidate that first, build up to the limit, and then you'll be ready to assault the barrier to foundation establishment."
"Neat."
"Want to learn cool sword attacks?"
"Do I get to shout them out like you do?" Percy's eyes lit up.
If Ocean Song didn't know that Percy was his brother, this would have confirmed it.
"Of course! What kind of cultivator doesn't shout out their attacks when they perform them!?" Ocean Spoke righteously. "And we should get you some proper clothes, it'll make you stronger."
"...How does that work?" Percy blinked.
"If you style on your opponent, it lowers their morale, thus making you stronger."
Percy didn't think that sounded right, but he also didn't know enough to argue, so he just accepted it.
[Line Break]
Ares was sitting in his house.
He had never felt so powerless before.
Cleaning shit from the stables? He could put up with it; it's not like others haven't had to do worse things. Hell, even Hercules had to do this when his mom was throwing her tantrum.
They even called it a labor and made it legendary.
Cleaning horse shit, Ares could suck it up.
But now, that bastard Cyclops stole his toilet.
Among other things.
But the fact that his Toilet was now removed from his house had been such a jarring experience that he continuously found himself getting annoyed.
As a 'mortal' right now, he had to walk like ten minutes to use an outhouse in the camp with the children.
If he was willing to suck it up for the stables, then he could suck it up and call in someone for help to get his revenge.
He may be getting punished as a mortal right now, but he was still Ares, God of War, and he wouldn't let some brat Cyclops bully him.
That's why he perked up when someone knocked on the door.
"Dite!" He answered happily, pulling it open.
Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, stood at his doorway playfully. "Are you going to let me in, or do you want everyone to see~"
Ares saw her expression and knew what was coming.
But he couldn't let himself get distracted!
"I didn't call you just for some fun."
Her expression changed and she pursed her lips. "I'm not going to go screw around just to get you out of your punishment quicker." She harumphed, walking into his house past him. "This is…cozy, I suppose."
"I don't need you to help with my punishment; I need your help with something else. Can you…?" He cleared his throat. "Punish a mortal for me?"
Aphrodite looked at him and then giggled to herself. "Oh my, did someone upset you? And you're running to me to handle it for you?"
Ares was frustrated because she wasn't wrong.
"Poor little Ares can't even punish the mortals for making fun of him."
"Alright, are you going ot help or just keep making fun of me?" Ares grumbled. "I'm being sincere and asking for help."
"And it's adorable." She pinched his cheek, but he annoyingly swatted it away. "Fine, fine, consider it done. If nothing else, this has made the little trip worth it."
The God of War let out a breath of relief. "Thanks, Dite, I won't forget it. As long as you get that bastard Cyclops, I don't care what you ask me to do in return. I was thinking maybe you start with—"
"Cyclops?" Aphrodite stilled.
Ares broke out with a malevolent grin. "That's right, that barnacle-bearded bastard. Water something was his name, I don't know, I don't care."
"Ocean Song?"
"That's the one." Ares waved his hand flippantly. "Anyways, I want to make him suffer. He took my toilet, Dite. You don't mess with a man's toilet! A man's toilet time is sacred. And don't even get me started on my washing machine! Do you know –"
The words abruptly died because he felt a firm grip on his throat.
"Haha, I thought I just misheard you. Did you say you want revenge on Ocean Song?" Her words were still normal, but her expression darkened, and Ares realized something was wrong.
"Mmphgh!?" He couldn't speak properly until she lightened her grip. "What's gotten into you!? Are you mad about some stupid monster brat?"
Aphrodite smiled.
The kind of smile that would both win over hearts and tear nations apart. Her grip on Ares' neck was released, but her hand grabbed his collar, and she pulled him forward until their faces were pressed together. "Now listen here, you little shit. If you do anything, and I mean anything, to fuck wth him, I will rip out your War Domain that used to belong to me and shove it all the way up your ass."
"What!?"
She grabbed him and threw him through one of his inside walls.
The God of War was daze, bewildered, and bleeding from his head as he hit the ground.
"Did I fucking stutter?" She lifted him up again. "Listen and listen close, you mother fucker. That Monster Brat, that Cyclops that you're talking about, is giving me the sweetest, most tooth rotting wholesome feelings of love that I've felt in years."
Ares was about to say something, but she grabbed his head and slammed it into another wall, repeatedly, to get her point across.
"Do you know what it feels like to have diabetes injected right into your veins?" She pulled him back; his face was bloodied, and he let out a faint whimper. "He's in love with Hecate. Do you understand what I'm talking about?" She let him go.
She wiped her hands off, sneering disdainfully.
"Hecate. You wanted to ruin their cute little relationship!?" She got herself angry again and started kicking him. "Do you have any idea when the last time I saw Hecate get heart flutters was?! I can't remember!"
She kicked him even harder as he went sliding across the room.
She grabbed him by the collar, lifting him up again until their faces were level. "You will not ruin my favorite relationship! Do you understand!?"
"Y-yeesh." He slurred.
"Good." She dropped him one last time, scowling. "Don't fuck with my shipping."
With a scoff, the Goddess of Love left him there, confused, bloodied, and still without his toilet.
[Line Break]
A/N
Ocean Song's time at Camp Half-Blood starts; he'll probably stay a day or two. I'm sure it'll be fine.
He has permission after all.
If you want to read 1 chapter ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a boosty if you can't use the above under the same name
Also, one of my snippets got its own story/tread or whatever it's called here. Check it out on my profile, it's a Worm/Fate crossover.