After getting over his shock that the kid handed him a drachma, money of Chaos, he thought unless the kid rode the bus over 100 times, he'd be making a big profit. "Hey kid," he began, "so I am honest to my word and plan to keep this deal but are you going to use this bus a lot?" 'Please say no, please say no' the driver hoped.

Percy laughed at his expression. "Probably not. Like I said I want to start a new life so I probably will only use this bus if I really need it. I just wanted to make sure I always have a way around the universe if I ever need it."

The bus driver grinned from ear to ear thinking how much of a profit he was making and decided he should probably be a little nicer to this boy. "So kid, what's your name?" Percy paused for a second thinking. Since he was starting a new life, he should also have another name to wipe the slate clean and start over.

The bus driver sat there for a second wondering if Earth people do have names or not.

Percy held his chin in a thoughtful manner and replied, "No one has asked me for my name in 4 years." Percy had been on the constant run and monsters don't really ask for demigods' names while they were trying to kill them. It was usually like 'There you are' then attack.

The bus driver thought, 'loner.' But now that he was really looking at the boy, he looked pretty beat up. His clothes were torn to shreds and his arms were covered with scars like he was tortured or something. He had no doubt that under his clothes would most likely reveal even more scars.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Percy said, "I guess since I'm starting a new life I should also get a new name."

The bus driver shrugged and said, "If you say so." He wasn't keen on asking what his past life entailed because it was none of his business and he really didn't want to know how he got those scars. The scars actually reminded him of the brutes in the tournaments he used to watch and he couldn't imagine this kid fighting in the area for a living.

Percy sat there in the front row thinking of what would be a good name. He wanted it to be a Greek name so he never forgot his heritage even though they all hate him and betrayed him. He wanted to help people around the galaxy. He wanted to be known as the defender of the people, their protector. He wanted to fight for the people. The name just popped into his head.

Percy took in a deep breath and said, "My name is Machai Alewar." The bus driver looked to the boy ... Machai and thought 'what a strange name.'

He voiced his thoughts, "I've never heard of that before. Does it have a meaning or something?" The bus driver had taken an interest into this mysterious boy. It's not every day an earthling kid with a mask and beat up clothes just walked onto a bus. He wanted to ask what his old name was but he could tell Machai wouldn't tell him and he definitely didn't want a backstory to come with the name.

Percy ... no Machai said, "Machai is a spirit of fighting and combat and Alewar means guard of all. I want to use my skills to help protect the people of the galaxy." Yes, Machai knew that would be his plan. He would always strive to protect those who don't possess the power to do so. He would scour the universe and fight for what he believed was right.

Now, the bus driver wanted to laugh at how this little boy was going to defend the people of the galaxy but he was, however, surprised to hear true conviction in the boy's voice. When he looked into his eyes, he saw some things he would have never guessed he would see in the eyes of someone so young. They looked so sad and dead yet possess determination and strength in character. They were the eyes of a seasoned warrior who had seen many battles and lost much. He was also captivated by Machai's captivating, swirling green eyes with bright orange flecks in them. He would have to keep an eye out for any word on Machai to see if he made anything of himself.

The driver just nodded and plopped down on his seat. He clicked a few buttons and the tornado that went to the west came back and sucked them right up. After they were above the clouds, the bus driver yelled 'hang on' and the bus sped right out of Earth's atmosphere at speeds that probably broke the sound barrier, and it broke it so much so that it didn't even make a sound.

Machai immediately grabbed onto anything he could get his hands on, which happened to be a metal bar on the back of the cushion, and yelled in shock while the driver just laughed at him and said, "Rookie." After they were out of Earth's atmosphere and next to what Machai thought was Neptune, the bus slowed down and he could move again even though they were still going pretty fast.

He looked at the blue planet which reminded him of his father ... well ... former father. He wondered what his father's Roman aspect would be like and if he would have acted the same way towards him. Probably not, but who knows? However, Machai didn't want to dwell on 'what ifs' so he let his mind wander over different topics.

As the two sat quietly, Machai decided it would be smart to at least learn as much information about the galaxy since he would be clueless on what to do when he got off the bus. None of the books in Athena's library described anything remotely useful which probably made Athena crazy not to have that information. Machai chuckled to himself.

"Sooo, what's your name," Machai said trying to start a conversation. The driver slightly turned his head and raised an eyebrow. Machai just sat there looking expectant. "You want to know my name?"

Machai was plain ole confused. They were the only ones on the bus and Machai already told him his name. He wondered if it was a custom or something to not ask intergalactic bus drivers their name. Ah, who knew?

Machai said, "Of course I do. We are traveling across the universe for who knows how long ..." but was interrupted. "Exactly 3 hours and 22 minutes," the bus driver said matter of factly. Which Machai guessed was a fact.

"Anyway, we are traveling across the universe together and I think it is appropriate that we address each other by our names instead of bus driver or kid. Unless, it is like a custom or something for you to not tell me your name," Machai stated hoping he didn't break a custom rule.

The bus driver actually had a small smile on his face and inwardly chuckled at this kid. Machai was going to have a hard time fitting in at some of these planets with his personality. He looked at the boy and said, "?}{~'#$?."

Machai blinked a couple of times and just stared at him for a second hoping that was in his original language since he used his little pincers to say it, because there was no way he was going to call him that or even have the ability to pronounce it. Machai knew he was being made fun of when the bus driver smirked at him.

Machai frowned and said, "Ha ha very funny. Now, what's the English translation to that?"

The driver chuckled and said, "Cadok." He watched the boy think it over and apparently approve of his name with a nod of his head.

"That's a pretty cool name. Now then Cadok, you want to give me a three hour crash course on the entire universe!" Machai just looked at Cadok grinning from ear to ear under his mask while Cadok thought with a shake of his head, 'This is going to be a long three hour drive.' He chuckled at the end of his thought and they sped through the universe having a crash course session.

After the three hour ride was over, Machai learned about the several government structures throughout the galaxy and how Chaos, the creator of the universe, was basically the overseer of these governments. His first was that Chaos was actually still alive and well. His second surprise was that Cadok said Chaos' children disappeared a long time ago and haven't been seen since.

Of course, Machai didn't tell him about demigods or the primordials. He guessed they were kept secret for a reason and decided to keep the information to himself until he deemed it safe for word to get out. The currency layout was a little strange but Machai just rolled with it. He learned about some cool planets he would have to visit sometime too. He also traded another drachma for split cash which surprised Cadok even more that he had two.

"We're here," Cadok told Machai with a little hint of sadness in his voice. He had grown to like the kid in the past three hours and was kind of regretting his decision to bring him to this planet.

Machai looked at the approaching planet and was astonished to see it looked like the exact opposite of Earth. Whereas Earth was green and blue with plant life and water, this planet was red and brown from lava and rocks. He could see lava flares coming up in the pools of lava just like solar flares just straight instead of curvy.

Cadok docked the bus at the station. It was a little crowded but they could still find their way through the streets relatively easy. What surprised Machai the most was all the different alien species there were. They were like a rainbow of colors, arms, legs, fins, tails, ... well, pretty much everything was different about them. Machai knew he would stand out right when he stepped off this bus even though he was mostly covered with a cloak.

"Hey Cadok," Machai said a little nervously.

"Yes?" Cadok said wondering why Machai would all of the sudden get cold feet which is highly unlike him the way he sounded before.

"I won't be jumped because everybody hates the human race, right?" Machai said a little waringly. Machai believed he could hold his own against any smugglers but he would at least like to know the likelihood of that happening.

"Why exactly would we hate the human race?" Cadok was now quite curious as to why he would think that.

"I don't know. I will stand out with the crowd so I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be jumped for being human."

"Hmm," Cadok contemplated much to Machai's horror. Cadok chuckled and said, "No, I do agree you will stand out since humans are rarely, if ever, seen anywhere but Earth. However, I don't believe regular people will jump you. The only people you should worry about are rare species collectors but they usually capture people while traveling through space rather than on a planet."

Machai let out a deep breath of relief. He said, "Umm, can you tell me why you chose a hot, lava filled planet as a place to start a new life when I'm pretty sure the world I'm used to is the exact opposite of this world." Machai didn't know why but he had a feeling he wasn't going to like his answer.

Cadok rubbed the back of his neck and said a little guiltily, "Welllll, this is a place where you can earn a good bit of cash and start a new life." He looked at Machai with a guilty smile and Machai's look at Cadok basically said 'what's the catch.'

Cadok said, "This place is known for arena fights and I thought it would be funny watching you get your butt beat. Then, after you got on I contemplated of not taking you here because you interested me but then you said you wanted to protect the people of the galaxy and I thought this would be a perfect place for you to learn how the underbelly of society works while also training to fight."

He continued, "I don't know how good you are with your sword but if you do fight you will definitely gain some experience. The fighting style outside of Earth is most likely completely different than what you're used to so this would probably be the best way to learn ... Even though I guess you do have a chance at dying by a raging lunatic." He looked at Machai with a guilty look but was surprised to Machai actually considering the situation and was actually looking like he was going to go along with it.

Machai thought about the pros and cons. Machai's mind:

Pro - learn how to fight in more ways (always useful), earn some extra cash (I do need money), and possibly find out information about the villains of society (make finding them a lot easier)

Cons - chance of death (what's new) ...

"Okay, I'm up for it," Machai said much to the surprise of Cadok. "Really!" Cadok exclaimed. "Usually people don't just go and join the fights unless their muscled brutes who think they're the best." Which is pretty much what all the fights are composed of, muscled brutes.

Machai said, "Well I can definitely say I'm no muscled brute and I know I'm nowhere near the best, but after weighing the pros and cons, I agree with you that this would be a good place to start my journey." 'Even though discussing the best course of action before we get to our destination would help,' Machai thought.

Cadok had never really had his advised headed before yet alone be accepted. He grew up at the bottom of the totem pool and no one really listened to him. He was really wishing he didn't bring the kid hear because he would rather him not die a painful death.

Machai smiled expectedly and said, "You want to lead me to the fighting arena then." Cadok was baffled at how he could be smiling when he was about to go to a fight for his life in the arena while sticking out like a sore thumb being a human. Well, now that Cadok really looked at Machai, he wouldn't be able to tell Machai was human just by looking at his appearance if he had a cloak.

"Uh," Cadok was still trying to process this boy's thinking process and it took him a second to answer. "Yeah, I can. I'll help you get signed up and ready for a fight."

Right when the bus door opened, they were hit with a heat wave. The only thing Machai didn't necessarily like was that there was a low concentration of water vapor in the air so he wouldn't be able to use his water abilities to protect himself if he should need it. Luckily, this lava planet was the personification of heat so he should be okay thanks to his mother. The actual heat itself actually felt good and Machai wished he was Hestia's son when he was in Tartarus.

Cadok gave him a cloak to put on so he wouldn't stand out as much in the crowd since the hood hid that he was from the human race, even though he did get a couple second looks which Machai didn't like at all. Cadok could tell Machai wasn't an attention seeking person even if he did something noteworthy so he wasn't surprised to see the shy look he got when people looked at him to long.

Cadok led Machai to a pub on the outskirts of town and asked Machai if he was sure he wanted to do this. It wasn't too late to back out. Machai got in a determined and quite brave looking stance that probably had a brave face under the mask and said, "I'm ready." and he walked inside closely followed by Cadok.

The smell was the first thing to hit Machai's senses and he inwardly gaged. Cadok seemed to already know it was going to smell so he steeled himself. Other than a few glances their direction, the men inside just went about their business.

Machai had no clue where he was going so he said, "Where to?" Cadok said to follow him and they walked to a door on the left side of the bar. Machai could hear the sounds of cheering and swords clashing right when he opened the door. He didn't even have a moment's hesitation going down the dark and gloom staircase much to the surprise of Cadok.

Even some of the biggest men gave a slight pause at the dark tunnel going down while also hearing the fights going on below them. However, Machai looked different in this kind of environment than on the bus. He now held an air of confidence and a 'don't mess with me unless you want to die' look that even gave Cadok a slight chill. This was a side of Machai he didn't want to see the results from and, even more importantly, didn't want to be on the receiving end.

Cadok followed closely behind and told Machai it would be best to take off the cloak now because he would get even more looks if he looked like he was hiding too much. However, Machai just said he liked the mysterious look and kept it on. At the bottom of the stairs, they walked beside each other to a man sitting at the table counting nuns, tuts, kaks, and lols.

Machai learned on his bus ride to this planet that 1 drachma = 5 lols, 1 lol = 4 kaks, 1 kak = 5 tuts, and 1 tut = 5 nuns. It seemed like a pretty good currency system and reminded him of the olden days where people used copper, silver, and gold.

Cadok came up to the man and said, "This young man would like to enter the Pits." The man behind the desk was definitely alien looking. He had dark green skin like swamp moss with teeth like a shark. His eyes were pretty much empty sockets but if one looked closely, they could the actual eyes were so black that they just looked like sockets. He had a bulky body that looked strong but not overly muscular.

The man looked at Machai and was already itching to watch him get splattered up against the wall. He was extremely small compared to the other men and they would probably enjoy beating him to a pulp.

The man said a little too friendly for Machai's liking, "Hello little one. So you want to fight in the Pit? I'm supposed to warn you that you have a very low chance to come out unscathed and a very high chance to be beaten into the ground and even die. Is that okay with you?" He wished he could see the boy's fearful face but he wore a stupid mask and cloak.

The man smiled evilly at the little boy but was slightly surprised when he nodded his head without a single ounce of fear in his posture. He would have to keep an eye on him.

Machai said, "It's nice to meet you. My name is Machai and I heard this was a good place to ..." he looked at Cadok rhetorically questioning him and said, "get a good fight while also getting paid." Machai looked at the man and saw he was amused by his confidence but he would soon see it's not just confidence Machai thought.

"Hello Machai, my name is Zade. If you would sign your name right here I could get you into a fight right away. I bet many would love to fight you." Zade again smiled evilly when he signed Machai (almost Percy but stopped himself right before he started) on the parchment and Zaid said, "Follow me and I'll see who wants to fight you."

Before Zade could get up, Machai said, "How exactly is payment gone around. I would like to know if it is worth my time to even come here." Machai said that with all the serious in the world which finally made Zade burst out laughing while Cadok looked questionable at Machai but not really surprised after riding 3 hours straight with him. Cadok was suspecting Machai would say this kind of stuff.

Zade calmed himself and said, "I like you kid. Well, you'll start with the lower of the 3 levels to warm you up. You don't look like you're from around here so it will take some getting used to. The payment itself determines how many people bet on you. As you start to make a name for yourself, then you will get paid more and more. For example, if someone bet 5 tuts for you to win and you did, then you would get 1 tut for winning. For every 10 bet on you, you add 2 more to the total amount. If 20 was bet, then you would get 8 tuts for winning. "

Machai let some of his confusion surface and said, "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of but whatever. As long as I get paid and not cheated out I guess it will be okay." It didn't really bother Machai that much but it did sound like a pretty confusing system that was meant to get the brutes who couldn't do math confused and allow the money collectors to gain some extra profit.

Zade chuckled to himself but also didn't like that the kid seemed to at least be able to do math. Zade wouldn't be able to cheat him out of anything if he did possibly win. Machai said goodbye and thanks to Cadok for taking him. Cadok said no problem and he would most likely watch his first match. Machai smiled and said, "Hope you enjoy it."

Machai allowed Zade to lead him through some nasty looking places to get to their destination. Machai made a couple of comments under his breath about this place needing a health inspector but apparently whatever type of alien Zade was had good hearing and laughed at what Machai said.

"We don't really care about cleanliness here. The two most important things are strength and money. Anything else is thrown out the window." Zade could tell Machai didn't like the stench and uncleanliness which would mean he probably grew up with a clean and orderly house. 'This kid won't survive the first fight,' Zade thought amusingly.

They walked down the hall until they reached an open door that lead to a humongous room filled with brutes of all sizes, weapon racks and sharpening tools, weights, and any other possible item imaginable that deals with fights. Right when they walked in the doors, everybody stopped what they were doing to look at the fight dealer. It reminded Machai of movies where someone walks in and all the burly men that are sharpening knives and pretty much just trying to look evil scrutinize you then laugh ... which is exactly what they did when they saw Machai.

The fight leader stepped forward and everybody instantly quieted down. Machai was impressed with the amount of authority he had but then remembered he dealt with all the money and the men knew that if they acted out they would get less.

Zade told the brutes, "Greetings, today we have a new fighter enlisted. His name is Machai and I told him a lot of you would love to fight him. So, are there any takers?" It was only half a second before a guy walked up to check Machai out.

He sounded genuinely curious and asked, "Why do you wear a mask?" Before Machai could answer a brute lounging on the only sofa in the room spoke up.

"Probably because his face is too ugly for others to see so he is ashamed to show."

All the men broke out into a laugh including Machai. The brute on the sofa noticed Machai laughing and stood up.

"What are you laughing at boy!" he exclaimed.

Machai just smirked at how easy it is to get him riled up, "Oh nothing, you just have a very hypocritical viewpoint." Zade chuckled a little at that but the big word left all the brutes wondering what it meant but they knew it made the fight leader laugh which probably meant it was an insult.

"What is that supposed to mean!" and yet again he yelled instead of just talking like a regular person. Machai just laughed a little before answering.

"Maybe if you had a few more brain cells than you could figure it out." Again the fight leader chuckled and was impressed at the mouth this kid had. The fighter yet again didn't know what cells meant but this statement was clearly an insult.

The brute was fuming now, "Me, you, arena in one hour and we will settle this like real men, unless, you're scared." He smirked because he knew fighting him would give that little kid a big bit of a fright but again grew angry when Machai chuckled to himself again. "Now what are you laughing at!"

Machai just looked to Zade and shook his head, "You need to teach your fighter a thing or two about speech etiquette or they are going nowhere in life." Some of the fighters stared dumbfounded at this kid as he kept throwing insults at the brute. Some of the smarter fighters couldn't hold back their laughter anymore and chuckled a little which made the brute even more pissed. Right before the brute could yell again, Machai cut him off which made even some of the brutes chuckle at the audacity of the kid.

"Yes, yes I will fight the almighty brute who appears to be the 'best' fighter of the group since he is the one on the sofa while no one challenges him on it." Zade raised an eyebrow at the kid. So he did know what kind of fight he was picking and yet still did it anyway. There must be more to this kid then meets the eye ... or he is just plain stupid which Zade doubts with what he has heard so far and how that bus driver must have believed in him to stay and watch.

Machai looked back at Zade and asked, "Could you lead me to the arena?" Before Zade could answer, the brute decided to make an even bigger fool out of himself.

"You need a guardian to protect you. That's just sad kid." He smirked as if he won a fight. But, yet again, Machai laughed. But this time, it was a full laugh that everyone clearly heard. "Man, you really have a lot of air up at the top don't ya. I need him to take me to the arena because I'm new and don't know the way to the arena. Some words of advice, next time, it may help a little to think before you speak." Machai smirked under his mask at the fuming brute and turned to Zade motioning for him to lead the way.

The two left right after and the fighters somehow held their laughs in until the brute stormed out the door to the arena. Right when he was out of earshot, the fighters burst out laughing. The topic of conversation of the brutes was how the kid had a little fun before he was killed. At the other end of the room, the smarter fighters didn't know who would win. They knew the brute was stronger but Machai was definitely smarter and was a complete unknown which means he could have no skills or many. And in a 1 on 1 match, as long as the smarter one has at least some skill, they will most likely win.