Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY: And so begins the Earth Trial! The objective is the same as the Forest Trial, get the flag. Simple, no? Anyway, while I was on vacation I thought up of a really cool story that I will begin soon. It is also a Ben 10 story. YAY! Anyway….I must prepare you the mood of the story. Here it is.

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It's cold.

Four Arms struggled up the tall mountain. He panted loudly as each hand reached for another peaking rock. Sweat was rolling down his eyes as the cold wind blew at him with a galling force. He shivered, he yelled out,

"When are we going to take a break!"

A voice 20 feet to his right yelled back,

"In about thirty minutessss."

Four Arms groaned and kept on climbing.

Somewhere above him Upgrade yelled,

"Do not worry friend! We will rest in no time! Just think happy thoughts!"

Four Arms did not hear him due to the howling wind but he bet it was something corny.

"Bark!", cried Wildmutt who was skipping up the mountain side. Like a mountain goat, he would leap from rock to rock like a graceful creature. Four Arms wished he was that nimble.

After five minutes Four Arms broke the windy silence again.

"How long have we been climbing?"

"About three hourssss! Now shut the hell up!"

Four Arms cursed as he kept climbing.

---

Upgrade was humming his favorite song.

Just keep thinking happy thoughts…just keep thinking happy thoughts…just keep think-man it's cold!

Upgrade stretched his hand and grabbed another rock. He heaved he and Grey Matter up. The cold was really getting to his body, if he didn't get to shelter soon his body might go haywire. This possibility made Upgrade climb faster.

He wondered if the cold wasn't getting to him only. Grey Matter (who was in his backpack right now) had not talked to him since….well…since the morning before they left. He wondered if he did anything to offend Grey Matter, he hoped not. Grey Matter is not a creature to anger, when he is in his tantrums, he can be dangerous.

Upgrade climbed faster.

---

XLR8 sighed heavily. She loved being in the outdoors. Made her feel so alive, also the threat of being pushed to death made her excited. Please god, don't mess up nature, don't mess up the quiet.

"WHY DO I HAVE TO CARRY ALL OF THE FREAKIN LOAD!", shouted someone to her left.

XLR8 began to get mad real fast, "Because, Prince Four Armssss, you are the strongest of all of ussss, this is showing how you can help ussss out."

"I'm tired!"

"SHUT UP!"

Must control myself from killing the heir to the throne. Think about…nature…yes…nature…quiet…harsh…unforgiving…beautiful…murderous.

"Can we take a break now?"

"FINE!"

XLR8 jumped onto a large platform. She yelled to the others, "we'll camp here for awhile! Now I don't want to hear any more complaintsss!"

"Yes!"

Four Arms did a victory dance as Upgrade took off his back pack.

"I think we should take a rest for the night, look." He pointed to the sun in the distance.

"The sun is setting which means night fall is coming, temperatures will drop severely. If we are caught out in the open we will surly die."

Four Arms was setting up the tents, "at least we will sleep and regain our strength. I'm pooped!"

Grey Matter silently jumped out of Upgrade's backpack, he looked around and snorted. He spoke out loud, "Why don't we keep going? We can make at least 5 more kilometers before the sun totally sets."

XLR8 turned on him so fast it was a blur.

"Listen here buster! We have been climbing the mountain for about three hoursss while carrying our suppliesss. You on the other hand get to sit back and relax and enjoy the comfort of the backpack. Frankly, you do nothing! You never pull your weight around to help ussss! Your always finding excusesss about not helping out such as "I'm too small!". Well I don't give a damn about your excusessss! You are so uselessss! You never fight, you never participate in sports, you can't hunt, you can't do anything. Nerds should not occupy the battlefield!"

Grey Matter was so lost in words that he did not know how to reply. He was angry, then, slowly his small face turned to sadness. Tears were welling up in his face. He turned around and ran to the tent that Four Arms had just set up. XLR8 gave a huff and walked off.

"I'm going to look for some fire wood. Don't get lost freaksss!"

It was now Four Arms turn to be sad. He looked at the departing XLR8 and looked back to the ground. He gave a big sigh and continued to set up the camp. Wildmutt, sensing that his owner was sad, walked over to him and rubbed his leg and gave a low purr. Four Arms smiled a little and petted Wildmutt.

Eager to change the subject, Upgrade enquired,

"So…where did you get Wildmutt?"

Four Arms looked at the liquid-like alien, he studied him with his four eyes. He pulled up a collapsible chair.

"Sit down." He said.

Upgrade did so, the chair groaned under the weight of Upgrade. He breathed heavily, releasing the tiredness that had been building up from the climb. Four Arms began,

"I found Wildmutt a year and a half ago. That was about the time the academy started. I did not like my room or my roommate, he was always bragging away about something, and was mean to me. So I escaped to the woods, to get away from my sleeping headquarters and be somewhere more….quiet.

After a week of living in the forest, I found Wildmutt. He was wounded, his front left leg was broken and there was a large claw mark across his back. When he first saw me, he tried to run away but ended up falling down. He then tried to defend himself but because he lost a lot of blood, he ended up fainting. Being a doctor, I immediately took care of him. I bandaged up his leg and his back. Every day I fed him meat and some fruits that were high in Vitamin C. He slowly recovered and by and by, he was healthy again. When the time came to release him, I took off his bandages. He looked (or rather heard) at me curiously, I told him to go but he wouldn't budge. I knew he was an odd one, mainly he acted differently from the rest of his kind and his fur being orange, so I didn't know if he was going to kill me, or love me."

During this time, Wildmutt, who even though could not understand a single word he said, suddenly remembered something.

Creatures were approaching him, biting at him, barking at him. One of them particularly was his brother. He was now the leader of the tribe, the old one died and he took his place. He hated Wildmutt, and even though he was his brother he ordered him killed. Wildmutt wanted forgiveness, wanted to be-

Wildmutt shook his head.

Past. Bad. Things are better now. I have new brother.

And right before he fell asleep, the last words he heard were,

"-and since then we created a brotherly bond. I was able to heal his wounds and his mind. He is happy."

Sleep. Blissful sleep.

"SNORE!"

Four Arms looked down, Wildmutt was sleeping, curled up in a tight ball he gave another loud snort and then slept quietly.

Four Arms smiled, but then looked sad again.

"XLR8 is a different matter though. She has wounds so deep that not even I, being a doctor and all, can not heal."

Upgrade looked at him with his single round eye.

"Why? What happened?"

Four Arms shifted positions uncomfortably, he looked around and said.

"Alright, but you must keep it a secret since few people know of XLR8's past."

Upgrade tightened his scarf and was ready to listen.

Four Arms sat back in his chair.

"This is the story of a young female named XLR8. She was the brightest of her kind and the sweetest. But that was before the accident happened. An accident so terrible that it changed her life forever."

Upgrade sneezed and began to listen to the story.