The perfect place to train was in northern Louisiana.

Mettan had run a quick scan of the area and chosen a field near a creek that was devoid of human life. With all the trouble he was going to have to teach Alex and Paige the basics, he didn’t need some other human stumbling on their training.

He opened communication with the war room. “Alex and Paige, meet me at the bay door.”

Mettan shut off his comm. He locked the controls before he stood up. He didn’t want the humans to accidentally trigger something and headed off the bridge. Alex and Paige were waiting for him at the bay doors. He tapped the pad on his hip and the door folded down. He walked out onto the grass and pointed at the creek.

“Lesson one is control.” Mettan said, “You both have power, but I want to see some control.”

Mettan pulled two streams of water out of the creek and threw them at his students. Alex caught the water in front of him and held it in a ball. Paige was clumsy and got splashed before she got control of her water. She fumbled it in front of her until she saw Alex, then mimicked his motion.

“When you touch water, it should feel like you are touching your arm.” Mettan pulled a handful of water out of the stream and curled it around his right hand. It began dancing between his fingers as he continued, “It’s not something that you should focus on. It’s something that should just happen.”

Mettan looked at Alex. The human was trying to mimic his gesture. Keeping one hand focused on the globe in front of him and the other trying to make the water around his right-hand dance.

Mettan nudged the globe and it fell out of Alex’s concentration, soaking the front of the human’s uniform. Paige started laughing, which caused her to lose focus and drop her water.

Mettan frowned. They were getting distracted too easily. He needed to try something else. He held his hand out and curled the water into a globe the size of a softball.

“Take the water from my hand.” Mettan

“What?” Paige said

Mettan looked at her as he felt a tug on the water. Alex was trying to grab the water and had both arms pointing at his hand. He kept the water from budging without having to divert much focus to it.

“I want you to take the water from my hand.” Mettan bounced the water, “Very simple.”

“Why?” Paige put her hands on her hips, “That’s stupid.”

“Then do it.” Mettan held his hand out to her, “Then we can go on to the next lesson.”

Paige threw both of her hands up and her focus hit the water. Mettan flexed his fingers, but the globe didn’t budge. Alex was stronger than Paige, but even both of them combined weren’t going to be strong enough. At the moment they were fighting against each other more than they were fighting against him. Their strength did surprise him. Humans were widely believed to be too weak for powers, which was why the humans had been cut off from the Conduit after the Banishing.

“This is stupid,” Paige dropped her arms, “When are we ever going to use this?”

Mettan nodded at Alex. The redhead dropped his arms and stopped trying to move the water.

“Water grounds out magic.” Mettan began moving the water around his body without moving his arms, “It also makes the water more difficult to move. Stretching your focus against mine is a good way to prepare for this.”

Alex sat down on the ground, “You think we’re going to fight the rogue mage.”

Mettan sent a wave of water at Alex. The human twisted out of the way and diverted the water back towards the creek.

“Better.” Mettan remarked. Alex had managed to stay dry from that assault.

Alex dusted himself off, “You do don’t you?”

“I do.” Mettan looked at both of his students, “There are going to be dozens of Black Mages that land with the Fleet. You will have to fight one eventually.”

“What are some good techniques to fight against a Mage with?” Alex asked

Mettan pulled two streams of water out of the creek. The jets twisted around his body, then exploded. Tiny droplets hung in the air around him.

“A shield like this will keep you from getting immobilized.” Mettan took a deep breath and let it out. The water droplets fell on each other and twisted back around him in two streams. The water merged and spread over his body. Only a small slit under his nose wasn’t covered by water.

“This will dilute most spells before they hit you.” The water in front of Mettan’s mouth split as he spoke.

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“What about fighting?” Alex asked, “All you’re showing us is how to defend ourselves.”

“That’s because you aren’t going to be fighting a Dark Mage.” Mettan dropped the water off of him, “You’ll leave that to me.”

“We have the same power as you.” Alex gestured at the creek and pulled a handful of water from it, “We should be fighting Dark Mages too.”

“You don’t know what fighting is like.” Mettan’s breathing became slow and even as he focused, “You haven’t grown up in a world where fighting with magic is commonplace. There is too much that you have to learn before you will be ready for that.”

“Why?” Alex crossed his arms, “Because you wouldn’t be?”

Mettan thought about a response, but before he spoke Alex huffed and fell to his knees. He smiled when he saw the source. Of course, Kark would be watching him. And Kark wouldn’t be able to pass up a challenge like that.

“Wha-?” Alex got up and spun around. Water danced around him as he searched for the origin of the magic blast.

Alex turned to Mettan, “Did you do that?”

Mettan shook his head, “You wanted to fight magic, here’s your chance.”

Paige raised her hands and began walking over to Mettan, “I’m out.”

Mettan held up his hand, “Alex started this, you have to participate.”

Paige turned to Alex, “I hate you.”

“Hate me later,” Alex was still searching for the Mage, “Help me find this mage.”

Mettan had to admit that it was hardly a fair fight. Kark was the strongest Mage in the Universe, and his cousin was a Vita. The magical boost that gave him would be nothing like either of the humans would ever face.

Mettan walked over to a tree stump and sat down. He had planned on a different line of training, but this would suffice for a while.

Alex and Paige were still searching the field for the invisible intruder. Occasional blasts of force would jostle them and get them to turn quickly to where it looked like it originated, but when they threw water at the location, nothing would happen.

Mettan smiled as he watched Kark move around the humans. It wasn’t that he could see the invisible Mage. He was just as blind as they were, but he knew the game that Kark was playing. And his Elf hearing could tell where Kark was stepping. His cousin might be invisible to the eyes, but he was still making noise.

“Enough of this.” Alex said and he ran over to Paige, “Follow my lead.”

“Why do you get to lead?” Paige demanded,

“Because I have an idea.” Alex said as he began pulling streams of water out of the creek and wrapping them around the group, “You can lead when you have an idea.”

Two more force bolts snuck around the swirling water and struck Alex. To his credit, the cocky human was learning to roll with the hits.

Mettan followed Kark’s movements as his cousin danced back ten feet. The water around his students had closed into a rotating globe. He knew that the mage could muscle through the barrier, but any attacks that large would hurt one of the humans.

The globe began to swell then it exploded. Water droplets sprayed thirty feet in every direction. The droplets curved around Mettan without ever getting close to him, but they did hit Kark. His cousin’s veil was peeled off as the water rushed by him.

“He’s there!” Alex pointed at Kark

Kark threw two force blasts at the humans, but Paige was ready with a wall of water to absorb them.

Alex had control of the water around Kark and began pulling it back together. His arms began twisting as he tried tying the Mage down.

It was a good idea, but not one that would work. Kark jumped through the water and rushed at the students. Alex and Paige both pushed the wall in front of them at the charging Elf, but he vanished before it hit him.

“Dead.” Kark whispered from behind them as he tapped both of them on the back of the neck. They spun around and Kark vanished.

Kark reappeared next to Mettan, “That was fun!” He looked at his cousin, “You want to show them how it’s done?”

“Later.” Mettan said. He turned to his students, “Do you see why you need to focus on defense and getting away from a Dark Mage? Kark could’ve killed both of you.”

“That’s why we need to learn how to fight.” Alex picked up a geyser of water and slapped it back down, “We couldn’t hold him back, but we might get lucky and be able to catch him off guard.”

“He’s got a point.” Kark said. He twisted his hand and a candy bar appeared in it. He tore the wrapper off and took a bite.

“If I show him how to fight, he’s going to charge into the front of the Dark Legion.” Mettan said,

“You think he’s not going to do that anyway?” Kark folded the empty wrapper, “If you show him some stuff, he might survive.”

Mettan stood up and tossed Alex the pistol from his belt. Alex caught it and gripped it firmly. A smile spread across his face.

“Where’s mine?” Paige asked

Kark snapped and the wrapper turned into a pistol. He tossed the laser at Paige. She fumbled it in her hands, then dropped it.

Mettan had seen the wrapper trick before. Transmutation was very difficult and magically very expensive. The trick was that he just swapped locations with an item that he had access to. The laser probably came from his tower.

“You do have that on its lowest setting?” Mettan whispered

“You afraid of getting burned?” Kark asked

“It’s not me that they’re going to be shooting at.”

“Why me?” Kark asked, “I’m a very busy person.”

“Your idea.” Mettan said, “How else are they going to learn to fight magic?”

Kark flashed a mischievous grin.

“Don’t.” Mettan warned, “They don’t need to fight a dragon.”

“They’re going to have to learn to expect anything sooner or later.” Kark was chuckling as he vanished.

“Rules of fighting.” Mettan raised his voice as he turned to his students, “There are no rules.” He looked at each of his students, “The best way to take down a Mage is not with water. You use the water to bleed off his attacks so you can get close to them. Most Mages rely on their Magic for everything. Use that against them. Use your water to take away their magic and then use your guns to finish the fight.” He pointed at the guns in their hands, “The faster you learn to control water mentally, the faster you can use both of the weapons you have.”

Mettan sat back down and waved his hand, “Begin.”