To Fight or Flight

AN: So sorry for the delay, I'm in the army and was out in the field.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Ben 10 related.

With Gwen

"Are you threatening me?" the Anodite's glowing eyes focused on Forca, sending manna orbs to both of Forca's hands, snuffing the flames.

Hotter flames consumed Forca's hands, shattering the manna orbs. "You have NO idea who you are dealing with!"

Flurina flew up next to her fellow master. "She is just a novice," she whispered, trying to get the situation under control.

"She is a hazard to all! She has no control! The power will consume her. She's a risk," she spat back.

A manna wall appeared between the two masters, forcing Flurina back, two manna spikes slightly piercing her skin on both sides of her neck right under her jaw bone, blood slowly and steadily running down her neck. "I am not done with the Fire Master," Gwen sarcastically called out. "Interfere again and you will see your last day."

Flurina tried moving back, only to have the spikes move deeper in. She raised her hands up to grasp them, only to have them again move slightly deeper. Calling onto her element, again, made the spikes go deeper. Defeated, her eyes stopped glowing and focused on Forca, who's eyes were glowing a very deep blood red at seeing her comrade in danger. With a sneer, she turned back to Gwen, sending a volley of flaming balls at her. "SPURY!"

Hearing the cry, Spury's concentration shattered, causing the calming vibrations to stop. Dreca broke away, shooting down to the forest to retreat into the trees and heal what damage was done. The whirlwind dying down as she saw the situation. Gwen was successfully blocking and dodging the flaming balls, Forca was getting into position to send the command and Flurina had spikes in her throat, however, she did she her eyes following Forca and could feel the vibrations in the air as she breathed.

With eyes glowing gold, Spury sent a gust of wind at the same time Forca sent a column of fire into the air, causing a flaming whirlwind rise into the air. As the flaming whirlwind burned out, Lauric sent a continuous stream of electricity down onto Gwen.

The Anodite screamed in pain as the electricity flowed through out her body. With the last bit of her energy, she sent the spikes through Flurina and fell to the ground with a slight smile as she heard the Master Element of Water scream.

Two earthen platforms rose into the air, one catching the unconscious Gwen, who still had the electricity coursing through her body, the other caught Flurina who was grasping her neck to try to stop the bleeding. Spury, Forca, and Lauric all watched Dreca as she appeared. The Earth Master looked at her fellow masters, "We have a job to do. Flo needs help, Spury, get her to a Healer, now." Spury flew to her fallen friend, grasping her as they both disappeared in a gust of wind. "Get the Anodite and lets move. If the vibrations throughout the soil are accurate, the elves have started their march on the Cimmerians. We have a war to win my fellow Master's! Let's get our Grenvie back!" Lauric flew down to Gwen, cradling her in her arms, and followed her friends towards the battleground.

With Kevin

Aris and Kevin, along with the rest of the Rowans, have been marching through the forest for the past day. They spent the time joking around and doing everything they could to avoid thinking of the upcoming battle. It was not easy to think of the person next to you falling, in order to make sure that didn't happen, they would practice and spar at every stop they would make. Kevin's muscles were hurting in ways they never have before. He was learning a whole new way to fight as Aris trained him with a bow and with swords. He was not used to fighting with a weapon that didn't shoot something. He was nowhere near the expertise of the Rowans, but he was getting there. He had been ordered to stay back when the initial battle started, shooting arrows from the cover of the trees. He was not to emerge until the battle hit its peak and was absolutely necessary. Kevin did not like following orders, but he was not keen on dying, he had to make sure Gwen and Ben made it back to their families and he could not do that if he was dead.

"Make camp!" The order was echoed down the lines of Rowans as they came to halt and broke to their duties. Kevin and Aris moved off into the surrounding forest to practice with bows.

"Looks like we get one last night of rest before we fight," Aris said cheerfully. This was not his first battle with the Cimmerian's and he had confidence that he would make it out of it alive, he has been training since he was young one for this, it was second nature to him.

"There's no time to rest," Kevin grumbled, notching an arrow to his bow, taking aim at a tree not too far away. "I have to get my aim right." He said as he released the arrow, he let a frustrated sigh as the arrow flew past the tree he was aiming for.

Aris chuckled softly to himself. "First, without rest, you won't be any good to us on the battle field, or perhaps more importantly, to that mate of yours. If you want her to make it back, you have to be rested enough to watch her back. Secondly," he grabbed his own bow, quickly notching an arrow, taking aim and releasing the arrow all in the same fluid motion, hitting the tree right in the middle of the trunk, "You can't think to hard when working with a bow. Once you notch, take a controlled breath in as you aim, let it out as you release, and don't stop and just stare at your target, do it quick, before your mind takes over and you second guess yourself. Try it."

"Gwen doesn't need me watching her back. She's strong enough on her own." Taking an arrow out, he did as Aris said. In one quick motion, he notched, aimed, and released, his arrow hitting next to Aris's. He sent a quick glance to Aris, before looking back at the tree.

"Do that during the battle and you won't lose so many arrows." He took his swords out. "Let's spar, you'll need this practice more once the Cimmerian's get too close for arrows." He took a fighting stance, waiting for Kevin as he readied his sword, absorbed the metal from the blade to act as his shield and got ready. "I'm not doubting your mates strength, she has to be strong to join the Element Master's," He attacked from the left, Kevin blocking, sending his own attack that Aris was quickly counter attacked, holding his blade steady at Kevin's throat. "But even the Element Master's need someone watching their back. Prepare."

"She shouldn't be with those Master's," still angered about how everything has played out thus far. "I've never seen or heard of them before. They'll get her killed!" He took up his stance. Aris attacked quickly and swiftly, faking to the right, sweeping Kevin's legs out and swinging his blade down towards his neck, holding steady.

"You can't let your emotions get in the way," Aris said, helping Kevin up. "The Element Master's are fierce warriors, and among the greatest we have ever known. It is a great honor as a warrior to fight and train with them. If your mate falls in battle, there is no greater way of dying for a warrior. We fight to protect our own, we fight so that others may be free and safe. That is our job as a warrior, an honorable job. Prepare."

"These aren't Gwen's people though," Kevin got into stance, trying to clear his mind, but he could not get Gwen out of his head. This is not where she should be. This was not who she was. "She's smart, she's a student, a good student. She's too pure to be in this situation. To be here. To fight and witness the kind of death out on that field. To see the ground turn into a bloody pit. I can't protect her from that if she's out in the middle of it!"

Aris lowered his sword. "She chose to fight. We might not be her people, but she still chose to fight with us, for us. You cannot always protect her. You speak of her strength and her talents with the mystical world, the power that flows through her veins. That's not someone who needs to be protected, that's someone who just needs to have the right person fighting besides her and watching her back. That's your job Kevin, to keep her safe in the heat of battle, not to protect her from it. Now, prepare."

Kevin sighed, trying to clear his mind again. Raising his sword, he attacked first, Aris easily counter attacking, once again stopping his blade at Kevin's throat. "Fight like you are watching your mates back." Aris instructed, getting back into position.

Kevin nodded, getting into his stance, Gwen back in his mind. He attacked first again, but quicker and more fluid as he imagined that Aris was going to attack Gwen, his Gwen, no one touched Gwen, no on hurt Gwen, and lived to tell the tale. Aris and Kevin moved fluidly along their improvised sparring arena, Aris not going all out, wanting Kevin to get a feel for battle fatigue. After a while, Aris ended the sparring session with a counter attack to Kevin's right side and following through with a back hand slash, stopping just short of Kevin's neck.

"Much better. But the sun is close to setting and we still need to make camp, let's call it a night. Get some rest and food, and tomorrow we march to battle." Aris clapped him on the back and headed back to camp, Kevin following after retrieving his arrows.

With Ben

Ben sat staring at the entrance to the cave, the cave that he had turned into a tomb for hundreds of dwarves by being careless and only worrying about the one threat, not who was around and who could be injured if any of his attacks strayed. He had doomed the miners, he had succeeded in killing the Cimmerian, but lost hundreds of dwarves to do it.

With a sigh, he looked down the path the older dwarf had walked down to report to King Orote of what had happened Ben couldn't bring himself to go with him. He didn't know if he could go through with this war. It was one thing when he was fighting for his own planet, but for a planet and world he never even knew existed, he just wasn't too sure anymore. He had taken so many lives in one careless act and these warriors they were to fight with, have taken hundreds of lives, it was the way they lived, they found in honor in fighting and surviving, but also in dying in battle. Their ways were not his ways, nor where they the ways of Gwen, or Kevin for that matter. Why had Professor Paradox sent them here? What was the purpose of sending them to fight this war in a world, galaxy, and perhaps even dimension, that was not even theirs?

He needed to speak with Gwen, he needed to see Kevin, this was something that they really needed to discuss and fight together, not apart like they were now. He had to find his teammates. With a nod to his silent decision, he transformed into Jet Ray and took to the sky.

Flying as fast as he could, he turned directions as he heard two screams pierce through the air. He sped towards the screams, seeing flying beings in the distant, they could only be the Element Master's . He saw two of the people fall towards the ground and he picked up his speed.

As he got closer, he noticed that the both figures had fallen onto raised platforms of earth, one of them was pink and purple, that could only be his cousin Gwen. Worry overtook him as he pulled up to stay in his position seeing them coming towards him. Once they got close enough, he yelled out to them, preparing his laser incase he needed to attack. "What happened to Gwen?"

Forca flew in front of Lauric to keep Gwen from his view as Dreca flew towards Ben. "She lost control. She attacked one of our fellow Master's with spikes through the throat. She became a threat. You should be thankful. In any other circumstance, your Gwen would have been executed immediately. Sh-"

"Executed?!" Ben interrupted. "You cannot execute her!"

"We aren't," Dreca replied calmly. "If that was to be her fate, it would have already come to pass when she attacked us during training. However, we need her in this fight, she is very powerful, and unlike us Master's, if she dies, another one does not rise to take her place. We simply rendered her abilities useless for the time being. Once we face our foes, she will be back to 100% and hopefully have her hunger for power focused on the Cimmerian's instead of us. She cannot control her power. She is not yet ready to harness such abilities and we have not the time to properly train her. She is a huge risk to all who will be at the battle, but if it ends the Cimmerian's, then it is worth the risk and the loss."

"You're going to put her out there, even though she could kill all of us because she lacks control in her abilities?!" Ben was taken aback, how could they so easily disregard the lives of their fellow warriors? "How could you so easily just throw all these lives away?

Dreca looked at him confused. "They are all warriors, they all know the dangers of fighting and of the honors in dying in battle. We have all been trained for this, this is what we are. We are a warrior people, how do you think we were able to keep peace so long in our Grenvie? How do you think peace comes about? It comes from war. You cannot have peace without warriors and fighters and soldiers who are willing to lay their life down on the battle field to achieve it. You cannot have peace with the battles of war. Some live, some die, such is the way of life and such is the way of war. How can one who claims to be the protector of an entire galaxy, not know that?"

Ben could not answer. He had fought tons of battles, but had never lost anyone in them; he has faced death, but knew it would never truly come to it. "Why can't everyone make it out alive?" He asked softly.

Dreca slowly shook her head. "You truly know nothing of what it takes to fight, do you?"

With a defeated sigh, Ben slowly shook his head.

"Then you are no help to us. Gwen here has already shown she is not afraid to kill, which makes her perfect for this war. When faced with an enemy intended to kill you, it's either kill or be killed, she will survive, she knows the cost of war, and she knows what is needed. Perhaps this Professor of Paradox, meant only to send the one with a warriors spirit and heart, and that would be Gwen."

Ben looked down at his cousin, before turning back to Dreca. "You expect me to let Gwen go and fight this war alone?"

"She wouldn't be alone; she has fierce and deadly warriors fighting right beside her."

"She's my family, I can't just leave her."

"Then perhaps you should stick to aiding the dwarves. Do not think I do not know what happened at the cave." Ben flinched a little. "I am the Master of Earth, do not forget, I feel all. You learned a tough lesson I assume. You should know the dwarves spirits are in peace in the earth. But I do not believe that witnessing what you will on the battle field, would do anything to help you. I do not believe you can handle that stress, but that is your choice. As for us, we will be continuing. I suggest you do nothing to stop us from doing so. You are out of your training abilities here." The Element Master's flew past Ben, who slowly lowered himself back to the ground. He could not let Gwen and Kevin face this alone. He had to be there. He had to do everything he could to get them home. He had to get Gwen home. She needed help with her powers, she had to keep it under control, he has to be there to help her. He must fight. Transforming into Fasttrack and heading in the direction the faes went.