Disclaimer: Is there an easier way to say "I don't own this" instead of everything single time in every single chapter? Because it seems to me that nothing changes and I have never and most likely will never own the rights of Ben 10 or anything that belongs to it.

Chapter 11: The First Lesson

"You know what to do."

"Yes, sir."

He leaned down and glared. "And what did I tell you about calling me 'sir'?"

"Um, don't do it?" asked a man.

"Yes." He sat back and sighed. "I just wish she would come home."
"You're not the only one."

"Thank you. You are dismissed."


"Alright maggots!"

Nature glanced over. "Really?"
Brant shrugged. "What? I've always wanted to say that."
"You always do," Kenya complained.
Brant dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Don't listen to them; they're just jealous."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Right."

"Anyways," Brant said, slipping back into his military roll, "you will start with Kenya, then go to Tsiyone, Jarlath, Artaxiad, and Nature. They will train you in different areas that are absolutely necessary in order to fight whatever it is that is coming." Turning to the teens Brant had known for a long time, he said, "Do what you always do. Train them as I have train you."
Artaxiad snickered. "Hard and trying to kill us?"
"That was in the beginning," Brant argued. "But can you blame me? I was stuck with you five. Half the time I think I'm going mad."
"But some of the best people are mad," Kenya offered as comforting words.

"Yeah right," he mumbled. "Anyways, tell them what to do and if they don't comply, send them my way. Understood?" The five of them nodded. "Good. Now, Kenya you start. I'll be back at the cave. You five are in charge and I expect improvement!" Brant stomped away leaving everyone silent.

"Well, I guess we should get to work," Jarlath said. "You heard him, Kenya, you start."

Kenya glanced around nervously and said, "Um, can I talk to you guys for a minute?" Knowing what she was going to talk to them about, they nodded and followed their friend out of hearing range of the humans. "What are we suppose to teach them?" she asked. "I'm seriously freaking out!"

"Okay, okay, let's just calm down," Artaxiad suggested. "We should probably split up the areas that Brant taught us between us. The best one of each area will teach Ben, Gwen, and Kevin it. And then, we'll just move on from there. We've got five hours and there's five of us; an hour each."
"But that's hardly enough time to teach them anything!" Tsiyone complained. "We'll never get anything done."

Nature thought for a minute and an idea popped into her head. "Okay, there are seven days a week right?" Artaxiad, Kenya, Jarlath, and Tsiyone nodded. "So how about this: One of us teaches one day, another another day, so on, and so on. Then, on the remaining two days, we do combined training where we all teach them at the same time. That way, they get a full five hours of training with each of us and they actually have a chance of learning something!"
"That's a good idea," Tsiyone said. "But who's going to teach what?"
They all sat in silence while they thought. "How about this," Jarlath said. "Hand to hand combat will be Tsiyone, observation will be Kenya, physical training will be Artaxiad, power training will be with Nature, and I'll do sneak attacks/planning entrances and exits."
"I'm cool with that," Kenya said, nodding her head.

"Great! Let's get started. Kenya, you're up!" They walked back to Ben, Gwen, and Kevin who were a little peeved.

"Alright, we're going to do observation tonight so I hope you guys are good at paying attention to detail and can sit still and be quiet for a long time," informed Kenya. The Three nodded and looked at her expectantly. I wonder why Brant likes the feeling of being in charge?she thought. It's such a, I don't know, weird feeling. "Basic stuff you need to know: 1) Be silent and stay silent at all time, 2) never be seen, 3) pay attention to the littlest detail, and 4) prepare to memorize a ton of information. Any questions?" Everyone's heads shook "no". "Good." Kenya paused to look at Nature. Go on! she mouthed to her friend. "Okay, um, why don't you guys," she pointed at Nature, Artaxiad, Jarlath, and Tsiyone, "go stand over there and I'll lead these guys," she pointed at Ben, Gwen, and Kevin, "over there."

Not wanting to embarrass their friend, the four teens walked down one side of the beach while the other four walked in the opposite direction. "Okay, now, you guys do something, but don't tell us what. I want all of you do be doing something, alright?" Kenya called. Nature gave her a thumbs up and everyone started doing different things. Turning to the Ben she asked, "Does any of your aliens have really good eyesight?"

"Not that I can think of," Ben said, shaking his head.

"Guess we'll do it the old fashion way," Kenya said with an evil smile.

"I'm officially creeped out," Kevin muttered to Gwen who elbowed him in the stomach. "What?"
"Can you guys see anything that they're doing?" They shook their heads. "Okay. Since you haven't trained with Jarlath yet, it'll be harder to sneak up on them, but we can try. Just follow my lead and do what I say."

"Haven't we already been told that?" Gwen asked. Kenya sent an icy glance her way. With a wave of her hand, Kenya took the lead and the others followed. The group moved quickly and silently as they could. When they were a bit closer to the other group, Kenya asked,

"Okay, now can you see better?" Ben, Gwen, and Kevin nodded and trained their eyes on Nature, Artaxiad, Jarlath, and Tsiyone. "Good. Now, tell me what they are doing."

"It looks like—" Ben started to say.

"See you!" cried Artaxiad.

Kenya sighed. "Okay, so we're not going to be starting right off the bat." She sighed again and headed down to her friends with the trainees following her. "Really?" she asked Artaxiad. "You couldn't wait five seconds?"
"What?" He threw his hands up in surrender. "He was practically standing up with a flashing neon sign saying, 'My name is Ben Tennyson and I'm here to spy on you'."

"I was not!" Ben argued. "Besides, it's the first day. Shouldn't we be given some lee-way."

"Do you think the bad guys are going to give you some 'lee-way' because you've never fought them before?" Jarlath asked.

"No," Ben said, "but they'll be at a disadvantage because they will have no idea what they're up against."
"And you'll also be at a disadvantage," Nature said, "because you don't know what your up against either."

"Why don't you teach them form and some techniques," offered Jarlath. "Then you can move on to stalking us."

Kenya blushed a bright red. "Um, uh, yeah. That sounds like a great idea. Thanks Jarlath."

"Anytime." He and the others sat down and started to talk while Kenya taught.

"Okay, so, form, let's start with that," she said nervously. "Um, well, you obviously have to keep down low or close to a wall, depending where you are. Try and make yourself as small as possible and always wear clothes close enough to your surroundings. It makes it harder to be spotted when you're camouflaged. And try to get close enough to whoever you are spying on so you know for certain what's happening and you have an easier time for detail. If you get caught, make something up that doesn't sound suspicious and don't stuttered. Act calm. Getting caught is like improv. If people don't believe you or you suck at it, they're going to throw you off the stage. Or kill you, depending."

"Depending on what?" Kevin asked.

"Depending who it is and what they are doing." Kevin's eyebrows raised in disbelief. "It's true. I've had the experience of almost being killed but then had to be rescued. And let me tell you, depending on who rescues you, the rest of your life could get very miserable."

"To be honest, your not making any sense," Ben said.

Kenya shook her head. "Never mind! Just, crouch on the ground and let me see your pose." They did as they were told and crouched down, knees bent. "Good. Now, act like your part of a wall." They stood up and made themselves as flat as possible.

"This is utterly ridiculous," Gwen complained. "If anything, we need to work on our powers. Observation isn't going to get us anywhere."

"Dear Gwen," Kevin said in a strange voice, "observation is everything. How else do you think I get all of my info? Or all of my tech? Or the deals? It's all about observation."

"That's the spirit!" Kenya cheered. "Now, pretend your a wheel."

"A what?"

"A wheel. Just do it!"
"Okay, okay," the three teens said and got down on the sand, rolling up into tight balls.
"Good, now, let's see how long you can hold that pose. I'll be back in a little while to see how your doing." Kenya walked away towards her friends.

"Your just going to leave us here?" Ben called out.
"No, I'm not leaving you," she replied. "I'm merely watching you from a distance. Trust me, the longer you can hold a pose like that, the better. Now, SHUT UP!"

"Fine," Ben whispered under his breath, "no need to go all control-freak on us." After staying in a tightly rolled-up position for what seemed like hours (which was really only an hour), Ben said, "I can't feel my legs."

"Then shift to a more comfortable position," Gwen said.

Ben did so but was yelled at by Kenya. "DO NOT MOVE!!"

"How can you possible know if we're moving or not?" Kevin yelled back.

"She has her ways," Jarlath mysteriously answered. "She's magical like that."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Gwen's magical," he said to himself.

"You do know that's part of my alien heritage, right, Kevin?" Gwen asked.

He blushed a light shade of red. "Of course I knew that," he said, trying to play it off. "But they don't know that."

Ben laughed. "Maybe they do."

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT NOT TALKING?!?!?!?" Kenya screamed.

"Uh, not to?" Ben answered.

"Exactly. So why can I hear your every word in your conversation? There shouldn't be a conversation!!" They fell silent, not wanting to be screamed at again.

"You know, you're doing a pretty good job of teaching them," Jarlath complimented her.
"Yeah, if you want to be just like Brant," Tsiyone joked. Jarlath and Kenya sent him an icy glare. "What? It's true! Your like Ms. Dictator."

"Well, they won't shut up," Kenya said defensively. "Wait until you get them. Then you'll know how I feel."

"At least they're learning not to talk," Nature pointed out. "That was one issue I remember a certain someone had a difficult time learning." She led her gaze to Artaxiad.

"Hey, it doesn't help that some twenty-something man is yelling at you to shut up. For all I know, he could have wanted to eat me!"

"Yeah, you first so he wouldn't have to hear your constant chatter," Nature teased. At least we can act like we're still friends and nothing else happened. But, Nature didn't believe for one second that Artaxiad wasn't still mad at her. He was playing the same game she was: Don't let your teammates know that you're still mad at each other or else all hell will break loose. They knew what happened. It's extremely hard to hide something that big from their friends. If they thought that everything between Artaxiad and her was fine and happy and great, then that's the way things would be. If not, well, hell would break loose. Again.

"How long do you plan for them to stay like that?"

Kenya shrugged. "Maybe for the rest of the time tonight."
"You can't do that," Jarlath said. "The blood will be cut off from their legs. You better let them stand up soon."

Kenya sighed. "Fine. I'll be right back."

Ben looked up and saw Kenya coming their way. "She's coming," he whispered to his friends.

"Well, you failed to be quiet for an hour. Looks like that's something we need to work on." She looked over all three of them and told them to stand up. "Now, act like your a tree. A great big tree. Reach for the sky." When they had done so, she smiled. "Good. Now stay like that until I get back and this time, DON'T TALK!"

"Wow, you're taking this thing seriously," noted Artaxiad.
"Figured if I had to do it, they have to, too," she said with a hint of laughter in her voice. "They need to learn to be strong and know that great strength is not always physical, but mental as well."

"Okay, now you're scaring me," Artaxiad joked. Nature rolled her eyes.

"We should probably train ourselves," Jarlath said. "Let's do some hand-to-hand combat like we did this morning. I think that's an area we need to work on."

"With or without our powers?" Tsiyone questioned.

Jarlath thought for a moment. "With. Out."

"Cool," Nature said. "Kenya, why don't you have your 'students' come and watch us. They can still be a tree while watching us. It'll give them something to think about."

"Good idea." She motioned for Ben, Gwen, and Kevin to come down which they did thankfully. When they arrived she said, "You are still going to act like a tree and still be silent. But, your going to be watching us to hand-to-hand combat without our powers. It's an important skill to learn. Sure, you can fight with help, but what really matters is how well you do on your own. Stand right there and do not talk or move. If you can do this, I'll send you home early. If not, expect to run laps." Gwen glared at Ben and Kevin. They knew that look. If they talked, Gwen would kill them without any witnesses around. And it would be a long, slow, painful death too.

Nature and Artaxiad and Jarlath, Tsiyone, and Kenya paired up and started to fight. Ben secretly hoped Nature would kick Artaxiad's butt so embarrassingly, he would have to walk away in shame. He was sorry to see how good Artaxiad was and why she paired up with him. They were virtually the same when it came down to fighting without powers. Jarlath, Tsiyone, and Kenya were about the same too, although Tsiyone had an upper hand with being extremely strong. Something that he couldn't control so he was able to get away with it.

Gwen was watching in fascination and Ben noticed that Kevin was watching Gwen in fascination. He glared at the elder who shrugged his shoulders. Acting like he hadn't been staring at Gwen was so juvenile. It was obvious that they liked each other. Ben knew that Gwen like Kevin and vice versa. What he didn't understand was why didn't they just admit it on the count of three? Hm, I'll have to try that, Ben thought with a smirk. Gwen looked quizzically at her strange cousin who only smiled. Shaking her head in wonder, Gwen turned back to watch the fighting which looked very similar to her martial arts.

Did Ben know that Kevin and Gwen had been about to kiss the other day? Of course he did, which was why he walked in just in time. It's not like he wanted to see them shove their tongues down each other's throats because he had no desire to, but he wanted to pay Kevin back for breaking his window. Pretty pathetic, right?

As they stood like trees for another hour, Nature and Artaxiad were in a pretty heated battle. The problem with them fighting together was they had too much anger at each other and they were the exact same when it came to hand-to-hand combat. They thought the same, fought the same, saw the same. It was nearly impossible to see who would win without their powers. In the end, it would come down to who would loose stamina first. Nature knew that if it did come to that, Artaxiad would beat her.

"Oof," someone grunted as they hit the sand. She took a quick glance to see who it was when Artaxiad saw his window of opportunity. He swept her feet out from under her and pinned her to the sand.
"Gotcha," he said with smile.

"Only because I wasn't paying attention," she said back.

"Lesson number one: always pay attention," he said, teacherly. (A/N: Is that even a word?)

"Thanks for the lesson," she grunted. He got off of her and helped pull her back onto her feet. "Thanks."

"Well, I think that's enough for the night," Kenya said from the ground. How cliche, Nature thought. Both girls knocked onto the ground. Stupid guys.

"I have to agree on that one, "Jarlath said.

"You guys are free to go," Kenya said to Ben, Gwen, and Kevin. "No laps for you. But I can't guarantee with the rest of them." She nodded her head at her friends. "Be prepared to run from now on," she warned.

"Thanks," Gwen said sourly. She still had to study for a science test for tomorrow and by the time she got home, it would be 10:30. The group of three climbed into Kevin's car and drove away completely and utterly exhausted.


Hey guys! Wow, it's been a really long time since I updated. Well, not really, but it sure does feel like it! Okay, so Happy April Fool's Day!! YAY!!!! I'm still on Spring Break until Tuesday which means you'll have me today, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Prepare for uploads!!! *Laughs evilly* Okay, um...COMMENTS TIME!!!!

iluvmcgowanboys123--Thanks for the review and the compliment! ;) I'm trying and apperantly I suck with this whole Gwevin thing. But I did write a series of SongFics that are all about Gwevin! Check that one out! I'll try and put more in, but I've got some "evil" plans planned out so hopefully that will arise soon.

That's all I got this time! Sorry if this was extremely long and you were extremely bored but I tried. That's what counts right? Oh, and the "But some of the best people are mad" line is from Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton. I don't own that either. But I thought it was a nice quote so I decided to add it in. Please review by clicking the little thing below. It makes my day when people do that ;) Review for comments, questions, concerns, and/or ideas. Thanks!

Until next chapter,
Writingaddict169