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xXx Zatara's Apprentice xXx
xXx Ch. 01: Hell Week, Day One xXx

xXx July 8th, 2010; 0820 EDT xXx

Conner was the second to last person to step through the portal to their destination, and as soon as he realized what it meant for him to be on a world that was circling a red star he fell to his knees as a horrified screeching sound came from his lungs. Harry was the last to come through and promptly yelled out the words "Cut that out or I'll hit you with the same hex I hit Wally with earlier."

Conner did as he was told, but also proceeded to pout at Harry in a remarkably petulant manner, which caused Harry to smirk while saying, "Welcome everyone, to the '2MASS J23062928-0502285' system. For anyone who needs a simpler name, it is also known as the TRAPPIST-1 system."

Picking up the explanation, Black Canary said, "Historically this planet acted as the headquarters for the Green Lantern Corps within Space Sector 2814, our sector."

"Why do I feel so weak?!" Conner moaned.

Harry snorted in amusement and remarked, "You didn't truly believe that Kryptonians were as strong on Krypton as they are on Earth?"

Conner scowled at this, but didn't respond. Harry sighed and gestured for Gabi to come over to them. "Oui?"

"Gabi, Conner here needs to learn how to fight without his powers. I think you are the best person to help him with that since you have limited combat experience as well."

"Je connais la capoeira, 'Arry."

Sighing Harry said, "Of course you do. In that case you are to simply avoid his attacks without making any counter attacks. We'll switch him to a different sparring partner if he manages to make even just one solid blow before this excursion is concluded. How does that sound?"

"Je vais essayer de ne pas utiliser mon charme," Gabi said agreeably.

Harry kissed her forehead, causing her to blush before entering a fighting stance. Harry turned to look at Conner, "Did you get all that?"

Grumbling Conner nodded, and stood so he could enter his own rather flawed fighting stance.

"You two can begin," Harry spoke up and Conner through a badly aimed and very predictable punch. If he had his super strength it might have counted as a hit due to the displaced air. As it was, Gabi just bent backwards and avoided the hit entirely.

Rolling his eyes at the display, Harry walked over to Kaldur. "Come with me."

Kaldur frowned but did as asked, only to find himself being led to a large pool of water that had no business being on this planet. "You will spend the entirety of this five day period figuring out how to manipulate this pool of water without using your water bearers."

Kaldur's eyes narrowed as he considered the idea, he eventually nodded while saying, "I'll give it a try."

"No!" Harry shouted while whacking Kaldur upside the back of his head, "Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try."

Harry waited to see Kaldur's initial attempt, and just as Harry expected, the Atlantean didn't manage it. But he didn't complain and he continued working at it. That fact made Harry very happy. Harry didn't actually believe he'd succeed in mastering water manipulation without his water wands in the time they had, but this would improve the strength of his Atlantean Sorcery all the same, and that was the entire point. "Keep at it, and who knows what rewards you'll see."

Harry walked off while resolving to check in on Kaldur's progress every hour or so. He would then forward those memories to Queen Mera. It would be interesting to hear her thoughts on his method for resolving Kaldur's greatest weakness.

As he came back to those who had yet to be assigned their training regime, Harry grinned in Wally's direction, "We are inside an artificial closed ecosystem, which means that there isn't enough room for you to run at your maximum speed for very long before coming up against a wall. The environment outside those walls won't support human life, so don't bother phasing through them. I doubt even Megan would last long out there."

"Can I ask why?" Megan inquired.

"This planet is constantly being subjected to geomagnetic storms, Meg. This means that the chemical composition of the atmosphere, or what passes as an atmosphere at any rate, is in a state of flux. You'd have about five seconds to recognize every single chemical in the current atmosphere and modify your body to survive in it, before suffering the first symptoms of overexposure." Megan winced at that description and resolved not to go out there during this trip. "Now where was I?"

"Telling Kid Flash what he gets to do for training," Robin said in a 'I don't have to train cause I trained with Batman' voice.

"Oh, right. Run that way…' at his point Harry pointed in a seemingly random direction, and said, "You'll know what your training is soon enough."

Zatanna frowned even while a grinning Kid Flash ran off at a speed that was still too fast for normal eyes to follow. Once she was sure he was no longer in earshot she asked, "Portable Swamp?"

"Ayep."

Zatanna glared at Harry while saying "Rettop Yrrah Rof Laiceps Ssargneerg Eno."

Harry's mouth fell open in a silent scream of agony as he fell to his knees grasping his family jewels. Zatanna then started walking in the direction that Wally ran off in.

Black Canary coughed and asked, "You okay, Solaris?"

Harry moaned while casting the counter hex silently. He took a moment to then heal the damage and finally stood up. "Yeah, but can you handle the first day of training for these two? I'm going to need to swap out with Gabi so she can go calm Zee down."

Nodding her head in agreement Black Canary said, "Okay, you two, let's get started."

With that, Harry walked back to where he had left Gabrielle and Conner. The boy hadn't yet figured out that brute force wouldn't work here. Whistling to get their attention, Harry said, "Gabi, could you go locate Zee and help her calm down."

"Qu'as-tu fait cette fois?" Gabi inquired while quirking an eyebrow.

Harry blushed while looking at his shoes and admitting, "I didn't properly explain what Kid Flash was supposed to do for his training due to my annoyance with him for hitting on you."

"Et où sont-ils?"

"Half a mile in that direction…" Harry pointed in the direction he had sent Kid Flash. She nodded and then headed off.

She hadn't even gone ten paces when Harry heard Conner exclaim, "I don't see how any of this matters. As soon as we are back on Earth I'll be strong enough that even a missing someone with a punch will hurt them."

"Which is PRECISELY why we are doing this!" Harry exclaimed in raw fury as he turned to look at Conner with glowing green eyes. "As you are right now, you would kill almost anyone on Earth if you hit them in the face, and would likely inflict grievous bodily harm if you hit them anywhere else. If that happens, you will never live up to your father's expectations."

"What expectations?!" Conner demanded. "He hates…"

"Sit," Harry ordered. Conner growled but did as ordered.

"Your father doesn't hate you, Conner, he just wasn't prepared to be a father yet, and certainly not for someone already in his teenage years."

"I still don't understand why you get to be in charge of us, you're no older than we are."

"I'm one of exactly two members of the Justice League who can legitimately say they were born to be a hero," Harry admitted with a sheepish grin on his face.

"That's a load of crap," Conner retorted.

"Not in this case. A prophecy was made prior to my birth that indicated one of two people, myself or my godbrother, would be the one to vanquish a madman who wanted to enslave or kill anyone who lacked magic."

"Superman would have stopped him."

"Magic is a Kryptonian's Achilles Heel, Conner. Even a first year student at Gabrielle's school could take your father out of a fight, provided that first year was able to hit him with the spell. Now, let's start teaching you how to throw a proper punch in what time we have left before she returns."

Conner still didn't believe this was necessary, but at least now he was willing to put in more than the bare minimum of effort.

Gabrielle found her girlfriend standing on the edge of an active portable swamp, staring out at what seemed to be a human head sticking out of the swamp about a hundred meters away from them. Gabi could only think of one response for what she was seeing, "Sacré Dieu!"

"Gabi, do you have a way to rescue him?" Zatanna inquired.

Drawing her wand, Gabrielle waved it in Wally's general direction while calling out, "Accio Wally."

They waited for several seconds and both frowned, "Pourquoi cela n'a-t-il pas fonctionné?"

"I would assume 'Wally' is short for something, but I have no idea what that would be. Also, I so hope that spell didn't just drag everyone on Earth who is legitimately named 'Wally' into space."

Gabrielle scrunched up her face in that cute manner she did while exclaiming "Je ne suis pas assez forte pour faire ça, Zee!"

"Okay, so how do we get him out of there?" Zee wondered.

"Course d'obstacle!" while gesturing at the swamp. She then jabbed Zee in the ribs with a finger while saying, "Tricheuse!"

"Do you honestly believe he can… can…" Zee stopped talking when a large wave of water exploded towards the shore opposite to the one they were standing on.

Not even a second later Wally came running out of the swamp about twenty feet away from them, before turning and running in their direction and saying, "Well hello, ladies!"

"Wally, I'll push you back into that swamp if you continue trying to hit on either one of the two of us," Zee grunted as she and Gabrielle turned around and began walking off.

"Was it something I said?" Wally asked as he followed them back to the others.

Zee slowed to a stop before grabbing Gabrielle around the waist and pulling her into a kiss, one which the girl was very enthusiastic in returning. Wally was smart enough not to voice his confusion until the kiss ended and when it did he asked, "Aren't Solaris and Gabi in a relationship?"

"Your point?" Zee drawled as she and Gabi began walking.

"I um… guess I didn't have one." Wally realized. "And yeah, I'll back off."

Smiling at him, she said, "I'm sure you'll find Miss Perfect eventually."

"I hope not. Perfect is so boring!"

"Harry, we're back!" Zee called out from a few feet away from where he was in the process of teaching Conner the most basic punch he could think of. A right jab.

"Right, just keep practicing that punch for another hour, then I want you to continue trying to score a hit on Gabi, assuming she is up to the challenge."

Conner simply grunted and went back to work. Harry then walked over to Zee,Gabi and Wally. Zee immediately hugged him while saying, "Sorry for hexing you. I don't really know why I did that…"

"And I'm sorry for not telling you ahead of time what I had planned. In any event, Wally which one of them got you out?"

Wally started laughing his head off, even as Zee scowled and Gabi began blushing. Harry smirked and said, "Well done, Wally. That, that was actually all I had planned for you… so instead you'll be sparring Wonder Witch."

"And which of the two of us is Wonder Witch?" Zee inquired, only to groan when both Harry and Gabi pointed directly at her, right as Gabi began humming the lyrics to AC/DC's Thunderstruck. "Sometimes I really hate you, Harry."

"Exactly what is it he is asking me to do here?" Wally inquired as Zatanna led him away from the group.

"He wants you to dodge something that travels at a speed of 220 million miles per hour."

Wally blinked, "That is… how am I supposed to learn something from this?"

"Who said you were the one who would be learning here? No, this is his idea of training for me."

Wally frowned "What is it I'm supposed to be dodging?"

"Thunder, thunder…."

And just like that Wally was off like a bat out of hell.

Not long after Zatanna and Wally walked off, Megan sent a telepathic message to Harry asking him what he did to Robin's utility belt. This caused Harry to nearly bust a lung while laughing over that one. "I'll be right there."

It took him two minutes to get to them and what he saw had him to shake his head in amusement. Robin looked up at him and said, "This had to be your doing!"

Scowling at the boy, Harry looked at the large collection of assembled objects and said, "The entire reason I arranged this training trip is to teach each of you to overcome your weaknesses."

"My utility belt is not a weakness!" Robin protested.

"The vast majority of Earth's spellcasters have become so reliant on magic that they can't function without it, Robin. You are heading down a similar path in regards to that utility belt. This is meant to help you avoid that."

Robin winced in a way that made it look like he had been slapped. Harry's face softened and he said, "Right, I think that everyone has worked hard enough for now. Megan would you send everyone a 'sleep for one hour' message?"

"Um… your girlfriend won't hear it," Megan admitted.

"Conner will and since she is training with him, I would hope he would tell her."

Megan nodded and did as asked, while Harry walked over to one of the nearby trees and leaned up against it.

xXxXxXx

Author's Note: The term 'Hell Week' is used to describe the most intense and psychologically draining portion of Spec Ops training, and since Young Justice was envisioned as the League's Spec Ops unit, I figured they needed to experience it. What differentiates Harry's Hell Week from a real one is that he wants them to actually have fun while they learn the lessons he is teaching them.