WORKING OUT WITH BEN

18 FEBRUARY, THURSDAY, TRAINING SESSION

Hank ended his brief with the usual, "Any questions?"

"No sir!" Everyone yelled, as usual.

But Ki raised his hand admitted he had only learned it when he first joined Night Leaf. The Lorents had their own warrior drills, and Ki did learn martial arts since he was a pup, so he did know how to execute the moves. He only had trouble remembering them in the right order.

Bell didn't know it at all. The underground army followed a different style of martial arts unique to Stephan's pack.

But the buzz that revelation created. No, not the part about the Underground's unique style of martial arts... The part that Bell didn't know ours. I'm not sure why, I mean, obviously Lorent wolves wouldn't know Night Leaf secrets. Or did they think every wolf in the whole world learned to do a round turn kick when singing "Skip To My Lou"?

"Alright, alright." Hank was not going to let us take this opportunity to waste training time, "The rest of you get your mats and start. Luna and Beta, please come with me."

I watched Bell's broad back as he followed Hank to the other side of the hall and sighed, just a little bit because he was so near, yet so far away.

"Hey, Sam!" Ben had hoisted up a thick training mat all by himself, like any of the other male wolves here. He dumped it onto the floor to one side, "You and me, okay?"

I nodded. I guess. I mean, I wished it were Bell, but it's not like Bell would be able to master the drill anytime now. This wasn't an easy drill. It only took 10 minutes for a trained warrior to complete, but only because we had been trained to, from young, skip to my Lou and all.

"You take Part A." Ben said as he took his place on the mat. His stance was so perfect that I cheered up immediately. I had never tried this drill opposite Ben before. It was always against a trainer, or another girl (usually Jessica), or Dean.

I've been told by our trainers that it was always best for training partners to be of similar builds and strength. Particularly for this drill... That's why it was kind of hard to pair me with someone. Dean was slightly shorter than me, but he kept fumbling. They liked to pair me with Jessica, but I never felt like I could go all out on her. So sometimes, my trainers just took me out and drilled me themselves, but of course they would hold back. 

Ben used to be, until recent years, only up to my shoulder, but now, we were about the same height. I got excited immediately. Here's hoping he's gotten this drill down pat, "Okay! Start!"

"Wait for the whis-"

But Ben was too late, I had thrown the first punch, and Ben had gotten the routine down pat because he blocked and kicked completely by reflex, "-tle...whistle, Sam! Wait for it!"

Like hell I was going to stop. This was too fun. Dodge, kick, sidestep, hook.

"Wait-" Ben tried, and then promptly gave up, "What the heck, Sam!"

And then he got serious about it. Which made it a hundred times more fun because Ben didn't forget what came next, didn't flinch on impact...and truth to be told, he was even better than my trainers because he didn't seem to be tripped up by the "uneven timing" of my movements. He didn't even bat an eyelid - well he couldn't, or I would've landed a hit. Oh sooo fuuun.

"Alright, change!" Hank called out at the end of our set.

Oh no, I realized, now it was Ben's turn to execute Part A... And my Part B was far less practiced. I quickly pulled up my fists and got into the ready position. I was so dead.

Ben's turn, and he was fast and precise. I felt so jealous of his movements - which unlike mine, were very evenly paced. This was the sign of a well trained warrior in our pack. Only the warriors who could perform the drills perfectly like this were eligible to become warrior trainers.

But because of this, I could make the counter movements easily. My body had already memorized the entire sequence, so it was just like going with the flow or like riding a bike. Well, actually my trainers had said it was like learning to dance, but I never learned to dance... Or ride a bike either.

"Ben, put some effort into it!" I yelled.

"What the heck do I look like I'm doing?" Ben yelled back.

Hahaha. His response was somewhat satisfying. Unfortunately, I was executing the B part now, so there was very little I could do to mess it up, short of letting Ben land one on me... And I was NOT about to sport a black eye.

So I just continued till we finished.

Hank clapped, and then everyone else clapped. This was when I realized that Hank, Bell, Ki and the trainees were gathered around to watch.

"Now that was a good demonstration. I want all of you to give the same amount of energy. Focus on the precision of the movements, I want to see the same clean sharp lines." Hank indicated to Ben and me, although we were just standing there ATM, but I guess he was refering to our drill just now. Then Hank checked his watch, "Alright, 5 more minutes to the next whistle. Get to your mats."

Everyone left for their mats and started stretching and warming up for it all on their own initiative.

"We did a whole extra set." Ben complained while stretching out his shoulder.

Right, we had started before the whistle. I was realizing belatedly that when Hank had called out to change parts, it was directly to us - that's how he could call it at just the right moment for us to finish the sequence and shift parts.

"It's just an extra set." I shrugged.

"Sam... These things add up." Ben sighed, "You better stretch and keep your body warm, or you're gonna hurt like hell tomorrow."

But I was distracted because Bell and Ki were just leaving... Leaving! Bell was leaving! I watched them leave.

"They're just going to get the manual from the library upstairs, Sam." Ben said.

Eh? Oh, was it so obvious that I was watching Bell? So obvious that Ben would mindlink Ki to ask for me?

"Last minute." Hank called.

Oh right. I tilted my head and loosened my shoulders and got into position.

"I'm A." I told Ben. It's very important to say these things aloud and not make assumptions, because sometimes your partner might have assumed otherwise, and you'd end up with a synchronized kick in the guts, both painful and embaressing. (Trust me on this one).

Ben nodded, "Your timing though, Sam."

Yeah, I know, I know, my timing's out of whack. Everyone, including Harvey, had noted it. At least I didn't leave out any of the steps this time.

Still, I knew I'll never be able to become a certified warrior trainer in our pack if I couldn't maintain a constant rythym. I mean, it's okay out there in the fight, but when training warriors, you needed to be able to teach the drill with the correct pacing.

"You already know how to control the pacing of the fight. I thought only warriors like my dad could do that." Ben said.

Wait, what?

"I wouldn't call it controlled..." More like random, but my sentence was rudely cut off by Hank's shrill whistle.

{Go} Wolfie pounced out of nowhere in my mind, and my body just went on it own.

Ben didn't disappoint. He moved to counter, his wolf rising up to the surface.

{So fun}

Fighting Ben was too fun. Maybe it was because he was my beta. Was this what Dad meant by putting Part A and Part B together? No... This was still fighting against each other - neither of us would get the upper hand. But for the first time, I could go all out, completely disregarding the pace of each movement, I focused on the accuracy of each attack.

Ben was good. Maybe Beta Lucas had taught him to deal with unevenly timed and quick successive attacks, but even if I threw a punch and then slipped in the next kick suddenly quicker, Ben would block and jump in time.

I even tried keeping the guise of a constant rythym for a while, just to get him to let down his guard, and then I would speed up the punch at the first opening I got, but it turned out not to be an opening at all. This was Part A and Part B, and when played together, Part B would always be able to counter Part A's movements.

At Ben's turn to play the A Part, he tried to vary the speed, but I could tell exactly when he was about to do this because the moment his mind tried to calculate the speed for the next move, his body's drilled-in rythym would be distrupted, and he would be left opened.

If I wasn't running Part B of the drill, and this was a real fight, I would have killed him at least 10 times in the last 5 minutes.

Okay, I was exaggerating, but at least 4 times. I stopped counting after that.

We finished first again. Both of us were breathing heavily. I wiped the sweat off my brow with my sleeve. Ben paced in circles, cooling down, he flipped up the front of his shirt and wiped his face with it. When he dropped the t-shirt, there was a wet patch that made up a blurry upside down face on his stomach. It's expression looked tortured.

I laughed.

"What?" Ben asked.

"You have an upside down face-print on your t-shirt." I pointed.

Ben looked down, and smiled wryly at it. "It's my inner self." He joked.

I laughed.

And then Ben peeled of the wet t-shirt and dropped it on the ground, just next to our mat.

By now the others were also finished or finishing up their set. The hall was getting warm from our combined exertion.

Bell and Ki came back. Bell's mood got even darker when he stepped in. He glared in my direction.

What? What did I do now? He was such a grumpus sometimes.

I wanted to go over to flare at him for being a grouchy wolf, but Bell turned away and sat at the benches to read whatever book he had in his hand. Was that the manual?  He has got to be kidding me! Bell was planning to learn the drill by reading a book? Hahaha.

Bell's back was to me so I could not see his expression. His mating bond was similarly closed off. My mate could be very moody sometimes.

Ki sat down next to him, he smiled and gave me a friendly wave. I waved back.

"Last minute!" Hank warned.

"Same as before, Sam. You first." Ben stopped pacing and got back onto the mat. He got into Part B position.

I nodded and faced him properly.

"You really should stretch, you know." Ben said. Awww... Was he worrying about me?

"PHEEEEETTT!!!!" Hank's whistle went off.

By now it was the third round for us, and the second round for the other wolves. I could hear the force of exertion throughout the hall, low growls and grunts as Part A and Part B played out.

Ben and I were far more silent in our movements. We were breathing heavily, but honestly, I'd rather bite my tongue than grunt and groan aloud in front of everyone. It's just kind of embaressing, you know? Like farting - everyone does it, but it's still embaressing if it were me.

Anyway, we were done. By now, Ben wasn't even bothering with small talk. He raised a hand to me, and then walked off the mat, pacing and stretching on the other side of our mat to cool down.

I was still panting a little. My muscles burned. I didn't pace, but I bent over to touch the floor with my knees straight - just till I felt the stretch at the back of my legs. The  moment I bent over, the blood and heat made my face feel hot. I straightened up and wiped the wetness off the top of my lips with the collar of my t-shirt. Then I used my sleeve to wipe the rest of my face. Ben was right, my body doth protesth. Maybe we should have gone slower. I stretched my arms and sides so I wouldn't get stitches. Belated, I know, but better late than never.

The nice thing was we had about 6 minutes of rest. The others were still at it though.