Chapter 3

Ben woke up, only feeling a very faint pain over his body, like a bad case of muscle stiffness. He could at least move, but found his muscles were very tense- they had constantly been contracting and relaxing very quickly, in spasms, during the power implanting procedure. He rested another day before finally going to meet with their squad leader with the other two new Warriors that he had come with.

"Well," their squad leader began, "Nice to meet you three. Let's see... Benjamin Powell, James Gregory, and Ryan Hampton, correct?" All three of them nodded before she continued. "My name is Rebecca Morrison, but during any group training I will be Lieutenant Morrison to you, got it? Good. Now, each squadron is made up of six Warriors, about one hundred squads total now. The other two members are over there," she said, pointing to behind her where two Warriors sat in uniform, "Patricia Wood and Steven Evenson. Our squadron name is the Dragons. Any questions?"

Ben looked over the squad. Lieutenant Morrison was about six feet tall, had long brown hair, and brown eyes. He was surprised at how tall she was, but was even more impressed at Evenson's height, who had to have been at least six and a half feet tall. As he was only a little less than six feet himself, he felt a little small. Both Wood and Evenson had Private's insignias on, so he assumed that must have been his new rank as well.

Since their were no questions, the three new recruits, including him, were dismissed to collect their uniforms. They were then to go to the mess for breakfast, and report for training. Ben hurried off to get his new uniform.

The uniform didn't look as bad on him as he feared that it would. It was made of a black cloth similar to satin, with hard blue armor over it, the black cloth showing through in non-critical areas, where armor wasn't needed or wouldn't allow for movement. The blue armor, although it felt like it was made of steel, was surprisingly light. He could still move around in it without any impediment to his speed.

"Hey," he asked the tailor that had just fitted him for his uniform/armor, "How did you guys manage to make this armor so light? I mean, the armor itself looks like it should weigh a hundred pounds!"

The tailor gave a half-laugh before he responded. "Did you forget that you just had your strength modified? That armor weighs a good one hundred and twenty pounds. Titanium/steel alloy. Be glad you can wear that easily- it'll stop most attacks cold."

Ben looked stunned as he slowly made his way to breakfast. How could he be carrying an additional one hundred and twenty pounds on him without noticing it? That energy must have worked better than he could have ever imagined. He didn't even realize he wasn't even beginning to tap the depths of this new power.

Ben quickly finished his breakfast, actually eager to get to training- they were supposed to be teaching them to use their new abilities today. Even finishing as quickly as he did Patricia, Steven, James, and Ryan were all already there, inside the football dome used as a training area. Lieutenant Morrison was nowhere to be seen, but he didn't expect a squad commander to need training. They were the only unit there for training, and there were five instructors- one for each trainee. All of the trainees were quickly paired off with instructors.

"Hey, my name's Jerry," Ben's instructor began, "Sorry if I start off fast, but we need to get this done quickly; we've been under constant attack for the last week, so I need to prepare you as fast as humanely possible. I want you to come at me with just any type of attack that you would normally use in a fight. Your goal is to land a punch on my chest. Begin." As Jerry finished speaking, he raised his arms in a defensive stance.

Ben quickly flashed out his fist towards the side of one of his instructor's arms, his other fist flying at his chest, hoping that while blocking the first shot he would let his guard down... but no such luck. In about a half of a blink's time, Jerry had both of Ben's wrists in his hands.

"Not bad," Jerry said, "but not all that great. When you attack me this time, focus all of your concentration into slowing down your motion in your mind. You'll understand once you do it. Most people at least get this part down pretty quickly. Okay, go."

Ben did as he said, and tried to concentrate so hard that he would slow down the images coming into his eyes- almost like when you stare at a single blade on a moving fan, you can slow it down to see its motion. When he punched out this time, it was in slow motion; the entire world seeming to move very slowly. But again, Jerry had his wrist in his hand in a blink of an eye, as if his arm had just magically materialized there.

"Sir," Ben said, "how do you do that? I mean, you're moving faster than I can see! Last time I checked, it's sort of hard to block against something you can't see coming at you..."

Jerry laughed, and then responded, "Ben, its not just concentration. Once you have your mind mentally slowed down, you need to physically speed up your body. You can feel your energy flowing through you now, right? It should feel almost like a warm tickling in your veins." Now that he mentioned it, Ben did sort of feel it, but it was almost unnoticeable. "Well, will it into your muscles. Will it to move for you. You can do it. Just feel the energy, and move it like you would any muscle or limb. Now, let's try this again."

Ben again concentrated on slowing down his movements mentally, this time pushing forward the energy flowing within him into his muscles. His muscles instantly warmed, a peculiar lightness spreading over his body as if it was easier to carry his own weight now. Even with his senses on slow motion, when he lanced out with a punch this time, it looked like a blur. The instructor quickly blocked, so Ben, with a side-swiping motion of his leg, tripped his instructor, punching him in the chest while he was off balance. Ben was not prepared for what happened next- when the world sped back up as he loosened his concentration, his instructor went flying back a full twenty feet, tumbling end over end for another five feet when he landed.

"Oh shit!" Ben exclaimed, rushing to Jerry quickly, and attempting to pull him to his feet.

Jerry got up on his own, pushing Ben away tolerantly. "Ben, it's okay. I just wasn't prepared for you to move so fast. Some people use the energy easier than others, and you, apparently, are quite good at using it. You had to be moving faster than the speed of sound back there- I heard a small sonic boom after you punched me."