Chapter 5: A Mother/Son Chat

Three days later after the cleanup of the fight,

School was back in session and Ben was in mythology class being taught by his mother. At least now he knew that his mother did indeed know what she was talking about and why he was being forced to take it

RING!

The final bell rang and the class got up.

"I want a one page paper on the differences between fairies and pixies!" Rose called to the retreating class. "Ben. Hold on. I want a word"

Ben, Mark, and Ron turned to each other with a concerned look. Rose only called him after class after he would make a disturbance. That had only happened once as he had been chewed out both at school and at home

"Yes Mom?" Ben asked as he got up to the desk with his friends

'Mark. Veronica. Please wait for Ben outside" Rose said indicating to her son that this was a dragon matter

Ben held in a laugh at the low growl Ron emitted as she HATED her full name

"Yes Mom?" Ben tried again

"Ben. I know you're still annoyed with your father and myself for keeping your heritage from you. But the dragon council figured they loosened up too much for your father and are trying to tighten the reigns back up"

"How could you think that one time was a flook?" Ben asked one of the questions that had been on his mind for the past three days

"Because of how much human blood you have in you and the fact it skipped your grandmother's generation" Rose said "I'm as human as they come as is your paternal grandfather. And according to your great-grandfather, when your grandmother was born without the powers, she had been cut off from the magical world with the exception of her relatives. It wasn't until your father was your age she got back into it"

"So…let me get this straight" Ben said. "You and Dad kept the biggest secret of your lives from me and Julie just so we wouldn't know what we were missing if those one timers had just been a TINY bit of our dragon blood revealing itself?"

"Yes Ben." Rose confirmed "And it was one of the hardest things we've ever had to do. But honestly Ben? Had you been younger, how would you have taken the knowledge that your parents had once tried to kill each other literally?"

"Considering how you and Dad are whenever you are together in public, I would not have believed it."

"Right" Rose confirmed

"But why didn't you warn me the night before?"

"You're one of those kids that need proof." Rose said "And the only proof I could produce is something your father would have to explain so you wouldn't freak out. Ben. The point of the conversation is that you need to train. If only so you won't get into another mess like you did with the trolls. And your father is the best dragon there is"

"What do I tell my friends?" Ben asked

"Well…you can tell them one of two things" Rose suggested. "One, you can do what your father did and say that you had a part-time job at the shop. OR you can tell them that your Dad's back in town and you want to spend some time with him"

"Okay Mom" Ben said before turning to go. However, another question came to mind. "Mom? What about Karen?"

"What about your cousin?" Rose asked

"Is she a dragon too?"

"There's a very good chance that she is" Rose confirmed "But right now she's in France under the care of the French Dragon, little does she know. She's getting a bit of her training in without knowing it."

"She gets a head start in training?" Ben exclaimed

"You and your sister have been getting head starts as well" Rose said "Why do you think I signed you up for all those martial arts lessons when you were eight?"

"Oh. I thought you and Dad just wanted me to learn more about my heritage" Ben said as the truth became clear

"No. We were PREPARING you to learn more about your heritage in case you frying Fu's paper wasn't a flook" Rose said

"It's still going to take some time to get used to this" Ben told his mother more about Fu being able to talk and his great-grandfather still being alive. "But… I'll start my training"

"That's my boy" Rose said proudly. "Your father's at the shop preparing for when you are ready to start training"

Ben left the classroom.

"What did your mom want?" Ron asked

"Just…uh…Aunt Haley and Uncle Seth asked her if I'd be willing to work after school. Help out at the shop the way Dad had done when he was my age"

"Sounds fun. Need help?" Mark asked

"No Mark. Thanks for the offer, but I think we've got this under control." Ben said as they walked out of the shop. "I'll call when I'm done"

He slipped on his helmet and skateboarded to the electronic shop to begin his new life.

Two days later,

Ben had finally mastered dragoning-up and was now ready to start learning how to fight in dragon form. However, apparently Jake had other ideas which were amusing to Seth and Haley

"You want me to WHAT?" Ben asked his father.

"I asked my dragon master the same thing" Jake said smirking at the stunned look his son was giving him "But you heard me. Dragon up and sweep the shop with your dragon tail"

"What does that have to do with training?" Ben asked.

"Seth?" Jake asked

"Sure thing Jake" Seth said jumping over the counter as Jake dragoned-up. Seth then grabbed a broom and treated it as a Hunts-staff.

Ben watched as his father and uncle had a mock battle. Realization struck when he saw Jake knock Seth down with his tail using a sweeping motion.

"Okay!" Ben realized "I get it"

"You're pretty lucky Kid" Fu told the teen. "When your father was training, his gramps had a 'don't ask, just do' attitude. It wasn't until your Dad's first REAL fight against your Mom that he realized that those exercises had a point"

"And I can give you worse exercises besides sweeping" Jake added

"How?" Ben challenged

"My master had me clean the toilet with my dragon tongue and do his laundry" Jake informed him

"Why?" Seth asked

"Well, the tongue thing I realized when fighting Rose that first time" Jake explained. "The training may have been nasty, but as my feet and arms had been tied down, using my tongue helped me deflect some Hunts-weapons. I'll find another way to train Ben in that"

"Thank you" Ben said not really wanting to clean the toilet Fu spent most of his time at. "But…what about the laundry?"

"Apparently, Gramps needed his laundry done" Jake said with an eyeroll. "So let's get this place swept and then we'll get to work on your flight"

TBC

Next time:

"You mean I've been babysat by MERMAIDS when I'm out with my friends?" Ben asked

"Yeah. By the way, where did Mark get the idea that I work for the government?"

"I'm never talking when surfing again" Ben declared realizing that the mermaids probably told his father everything.