Prophecy

Chapter 12

Summer Training

The rest of the day was uniform issue and equipment issue. The Manticore uniform was a one-piece jumpsuit in black. It had a Manticore patch on the left shoulder and a team emblem on the right breast pocket. Above the team emblem, the team leaders wore a small pin-on star. The reason it was a pin-on was quite simple. If another member of the team turned out to be a better leader, it could be transferred easily. The combat equipment was a variety of things both Muggle and Wizard, and would be left behind at the end of this training cycle.

Alexander Evans surveyed his group. While all of this group would be trained for combat, fighting was not their primary purpose. Jerrick Clearwater was the Intelligence chief, and he had four people who were Manticore's general use people. They might be assisting the Mediwizards, pulling guard duty, or anything else that needed to be done.

Prefect Grey and Emily Kitchen were, in a common Muggle term, bookworms. They would be looking into the research for the Manticores, and documenting everything. Alexander had seen the notes Grey already had, and he was impressed with the young man's clear and concise writing.

Emily, he could see, was going to be a problem. Nothing was quite real to her, except her books and scrolls. Every time he took whatever she was reading from her, she found something else, or pulled out a scroll and started making notes. In just 6 hours, he'd already taken four books and two scrolls from her, and he was beginning to wonder if she had an endless supply of them, because she was taking notes again.

Alexander dealt with a minor hassle, and came back to his group. He showed them how to put on and wear the combat gear.

"These are the rules. Every time you leave your tent, you will be in full gear. I don't care if you're just going to the latrine." He looked at Emily. "Yes?"

Emily had her head cocked sideways in a habitual gesture he was going to learn quickly. "Sir, what's a latrine?"

Alexander sighed. "It's another word for bathroom."

Emily nodded, and made another note. Alexander could see a million questions coming from that girl, and suddenly he had an idea.

"Kitchen, see me after dinner. I'll give you some books that should explain most of what we're doing. However, during the day, you will leave the books in your tent, unless you are specifically told to bring them to training. Is that understood?"

Emily nodded happily, already wondering what new books she would get to read.

Alexander looked at her. "Kitchen. In this unit, you don't nod, you answer. You have both a mouth, and a brain or you wouldn't be here. Is that understood?"

Emily blushed. "Yes, Sir."

Alexander turned his attention to the others. "All of you will have a different training schedule than the linked teams. They will be studying various combat techniques all day. You will study combat during the morning, and after lunch, you will be working on your specialties. You four without a specialty will be learning how to work various things to assist a camp. Muggle generators, Wizard shields and other items."

Alexander wondered how the other trainers were doing. He keyed the small radio he wore. "All Wolfpack units, this is Wolfpack 6. Status report, over."

Wolfpack 6, this is Wolfpack Alpha, green over." That was Martin Twofeathers. There were codes for all the various statuses Alexander had been able to think of, and green meant everything was running smoothly.

Alexander got green reports from all the team trainers and nodded. So far, so good. Of course, he thought wryly, this was only the first day.

"The next four weeks, you people will be working under special rules. To break all of you of depending on magic for everything, you will not use any magic unless an Instructor tells you to, is that understood?" Alexander watched the disbelieving looks spread across the faces of the wizard born with a grin. "People, I am quite serious. There are millions of people in the world that get by without any magic whatsoever, and you're about to learn how they do it." He grinned mirthlessly. "At least one of you is going to try me, and let me warn you now, when I catch you, you're going to regret you ever heard of magic before I'm through."

Alexander looked at his watch. "Your tents are over there, and marked with the team emblems. I really suggest you get some sleep right after dinner, because your day starts at 0400 tomorrow, and every day after that."

At the dining tent, which was laid out like the Dining Hall at Hogwarts, Alexander watched the group. He turned to Martin. "How's Chimera doing?"

Martin shrugged. "We haven't gotten past issue and basic rules yet. The prohibition on magic caught them by surprise, but James agreed with your reasoning. He did ask if you wanted everyone to turn in their wands."

Alexander considered it, but shook his head. "No, I think not. I would rather somebody test us about this, than later on about some rule that might have more serious consequences."

Martin nodded. "Are we going with a hell week approach, or simply basic training?"

Alexander looked at him. " 'We' are using the basic training approach. The Eight are a bit more important; I want to try to break them. Use the Hell week on them until I tell you to stop."

Martin stared at Alexander. "Are you sure about that?" he asked a bit doubtfully. "They're just kids when you get down to it."

Alexander nodded slowly. "Yes, they are. They're also going to do more for the world than all our years on the Border combined, and they will not fail because we were too soft on them. If you start getting too many injuries, I'll give you different instructions, but until then, drive them as hard as you can."

The next few weeks compared unfavorably to tales of Azkaban. They woke before the sun, and by the time the sun rose, they had already done more exercise than any of them had ever dreamed of. Chimera had it the worst, as Martin took Alexander at his word, and tried to break them all down. The other teams were not particularly happy either.

One of the biggest problems for the wizard born was the lack of magic. Most of the Manticores that shaved had never done so with an actual razor, and almost all the women were used to various helpful spells in the morning. Spells for drying hair quickly and completely, blemish hiding spells and all the other little things you never thought of, until they were suddenly gone. Alexander had to relent on the shaving spell, as the Manticores couldn't shave with razors, and they didn't have time to teach them to do it properly.

However, after one of the Hufflepuffs was caught using magic without permission, and was punished, there were no more attempts to circumvent the no magic rules. Watching the Phoenix member running around the camp 50 times in full gear was bad enough, but after he was done, Alexander found a dead fly, and made the poor victim bury it. In a hole ten feet square. After he was done, Alexander asked him if he'd buried the fly with its head pointing north.

When he said he didn't know, Alexander made him dig up the entire ten-foot square pit again, and check, then rebury the fly. Alexander told everyone at dinner that night that the next person caught using magic without permission would get it twice as bad, since everyone knew that the trainers weren't kidding about it now.

By the beginning of the third week, the only thing keeping Chimera on their feet was James. He had battled his temper all his life, and he had an iron will. On the other hand, Rose claimed the only thing that could get though his thick skull was a Very Large Stick. Whichever it was, stubborn pride or trained will, James refused to quit, and refused to let Martin know how close they were to breaking down. He bullied, cajoled, begged and hauled his team upright. His determination burned at them through the link, and somehow, Chimera kept going.

Seeing Chimera still going, when they were being pushed twice as hard as the other teams, made it impossible for any of them to quit. After all, if Chimera could do that, surely, we can do this, they told themselves. After PT and breakfast in the morning, they studied. Tactics, maneuvering, supporting fires and a wealth of military terms burned in their heads, as they were drilled until it was second nature. If A happens, then you do B. The same thing, every time. That way, somebody could come from another unit or team, and know what was going to happen.

Somewhere around week six, Alexander and Martin met for a training meeting. Martin was getting worried. "Alexander, there's something wrong here. I'm pushing them to my limits, and they keep going. I've been running the Borders for 15 years; I've got adult muscles, and twenty times the training. One on one, I can take any of them, even Hangeld. But as soon as they start doing anything as a group, they're pushing my limits."

Alexander frowned as he considered what he'd just been told. On the surface, there was no way a group of eleven year old kids should be able to push any adult, let alone a Ranger, to his limits. They simply didn't have the muscle for it. That Chimera didn't have some sort of muscle enhancements of a magical nature was evident in Martin's ability to take them one on one. Alexander stopped, thinking about what Martin just said.

"Son of a bitch."

Martin looked at him, puzzled.

Alexander explained his theory. "I think they're drawing on the link somehow. You said you could take them individually, and that only when they act as a group, do they push you."

Martin thought about it. "You could be right, but what does that mean for training?"

"It means all of them get a complete check-up with our medics tomorrow. James may have convinced Melissa to forgo reporting anything that is not directly harmful."

"Like what?" Martin asked, until a light dawned. "You think they might be burning bodily reserves."

"Exactly. Since you can use quite a bit of your body's mass before it becomes a physical problem, James could have talked Melissa into watching it, but not reporting it, as we only told the Mediwizard for each group to report anything harmful."

Martin had another thought, as he considered Melissa. "Isn't Melissa a Healer?"

Alexander nodded, watching his partner curiously. Martin looked at him. "Healers can feed energy to ailing patients, I've seen it. Can Melissa, consciously, or unconsciously, be feeding them energy through the link?"

Alexander shrugged. "Who the hell knows? That link is so far above the others that it might as well be a completely new thing. They could be swapping minds through that blasted thing for all we know."

Martin grinned, an instant of very real humour. "I hope not, I've been sleeping in the male half of the tent. If the girl's minds are in the male bodies..."

Alexander sniggered. "We wouldn't want that. God forbid they decide you're a normal man. They'd faint when they finally saw a normal man."

Martin was trying to figure out if that had been a compliment or an insult when Alexander spoke again. "Drop the training back to everyone else's level until we find out what's going on exactly, but push them harder on the mental side. If they are drawing on the link, then treat them all as if they were Lisa."

Martin groaned, and dropped his head into his hands. "Don't mention that name. She's driving me stark raving mad."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, and a slow sadistic smile grew on his face. "You're the one who wanted a nice safe post, no violence or killing anything, remember?"

Martin raised his head, and looked Alexander straight in the eye. "If I ever ask to leave the Borders again, just shoot me. The next time I'm on the Border, I'll attack the whole Giant nation, all ten tribes, before I come off the Border again."

"How is she driving you nuts, anyway? She was always polite to me."

Martin looked at Alexander. "Ever seen a child in that 'Why? Stage', where all they do is ask you 'Why?'"

Alexander grinned, and nodded as he remembered the Twin's 'why stage', and the chaos it had caused.

"Well, she's still in that stage, only she's too smart to be foisted off, and to make it worse, you know as well as I do that the only reason we do some things is because 'That's the military way' or, 'It's Borderer custom'." Martin put his head back in his hands, and spoke through them. "Making it even worse, she hasn't been conditioned like we were to accept that as a good reason for anything. She wants to know why it's the way, or the custom."

Alexander sympathized with his friend, and then moved on to the rest of the training missions. He spoke to the trainers separately, comparing what they said to make sure he wasn't missing anything. Mercy Riddle was perilously close to achieving Sainthood among the trainers, he saw. She was so sweet, kind and perfect, according to the comments that he read and heard, that he expected to see her walk on water before the end of training.

Alexander felt an icy chill up his back, as he suddenly wondered if all those words were the result of compulsion spells. He sent for Martin and asked him. Martin just laughed.

"Mercy fixed a few problems here and there, and doesn't ask questions, or say anything when somebody comes to her for healing. She just patches you up, and lets you go, no lectures about safety or responsibility or anything."

Alexander watched Martin until Martin began to squirm. "Who's running the still?"

Martin's innocent face wasn't nearly as good as James's, as he replied. "Still? What still?"

"Look jerk off, the only time the whole bunch of you needs quiet help is when: A. You're drunk, and try Broomstick sex, even though nobody has ever figured out how to pay attention to the sex and the broomstick at the same time, B. When we get sideways of a couple of Aurors, or C. when you managed to get a still going. A is hard to believe because there are only three eligible woman on this mission. B is hard to believe because there are no Aurors here. That leaves C, and I think that it's the most likely because I know you all. You could make a still out of a straw and two pinecones if you wanted."

Alexander thought about it for a second. "In fact, if you have a still going, there might be a bit of A in there as well." He stared at Martin, waiting for him to say something.

"Look, after dealing with these people all day, we need some way to relax, and as you just pointed out, it's not like we have a lot of choices in entertainment out here." Martin defended the still, a device for making moonshine, or homemade alcohol.

Alexander looked at him. "As long as you aren't hammered in front of the students, or on duty I don't care about that. I just want to make sure somebody decent is running the still. Mickey likes to charge for his shine, and your shine should be classified as a deadly weapon, or a chemical weapon."

Martin looked injured. "My moonshine is getting better. It hasn't put anyone in the hospital in months. Besides, the recipe is Sonya's. She has Merry's old recipe memorized."

Alexander rubbed his eyes. "Are you telling me that a student set the still up?"

Martin shook his head virtuously. "Of course not. She never touched a single piece; we did all the work at her direction." Martin stared at his friend. "What's the problem anyway? She's a Border brat, Alexander, and the daughter of three of our finest. Merry was her birth father, but Falcon remarried you know, and now she's married to Shadowwalker." Martin grinned at Alexander. "She's pure Borderer you know. The still, and its hidden location, was all her idea."

Alexander rubbed his eyes some more. "You do realize that anything she knows, James knows, and probably Jerrick as well, as well as anyone they told, which might be bloody everybody by now."

Martin shrugged. "So? As long as we don't get drunk on duty, does it really matter what the kids think we're doing after hours?"

'I hope not' was Alexander's thought, but all he said was, "Keep a lid on it at least alright? And find Mercy and tell her I want to talk to her."

Martin sighed as he walked out. "There goes the quiet medical treatment."

The next day a through medical check-up on the Chimera link showed exactly what Alexander had thought. All eight of them were down at least fifteen pounds, and none of them had more than four percent body fat. (4-5% body fat is what most people come out of US Army Ranger School with. The average, for a healthy adult in America is about 11-13%, and most people these days aren't that healthy. Dropping 10%+ in 6 weeks is bad for your system.) Alexander doubled their rations, and took James and Tiffany out into the woods for more than three hours. What happened out there is a secret the three of them would not discuss. (Actually, they're not, but it would add about another eight thousand words to this chapter. It'll be a bunnie on the side. Raven)

The last week was review, and more review. Each team leader was given a precise breakdown on what his or her team needed to study during the school year, as well as the new topics that would introduced next year, so that those that wanted to could get a head start. Martin just groaned when he heard that Lisa had already started reading the new material, along with Emily and Mercy.

With the students in Northern Montana, agents for Cumulus bought the various school things they'd need for the upcoming year. With eight days until the year started, the Manticores were Port-keyed to Hogsmeade for the week of family and friends.

Tuesday morning, Chimera and the rest of the team leaders were sitting in a group, discussing the only two members of Chimera that were not there.

"They're UTS," said Lisa, "And somehow, I'm not sure the families are ready for what James and Tiffany call humour."

"Of course they are," said Rose with an absent look on her face. "First, James has been Up To Something since birth, and second, he's shielding me so tightly that I can't even get a feel for what he's up to."

"So, how do we stop them?" Sonya wasn't worried about what they were up to; merely about stopping whatever scheme they were hatching in that warped double mind of theirs.

Hangeld snickered. "You're kidding right? James is a whiz at hiding a prank. Everybody in school, including Professor Snape, knows we're Chimera, but has anyone caught James planting a single prank?"

Adam disagreed. "I think we can stop them from planting one. After all, we know his methods through Rose, and we're got fifty-eight Manticores to use, to keep them busy all week."

Emma grinned wryly. "Well, it'll be interesting anyway."

Adam and Rose consulted for a few minutes. "OK," said Rose, "If they're going to get everybody at one time, it's going to have to be a meal, and there are only two of those, where everyone will sit down at the same time; the barbeque Wednesday, and Friday night's dinner. James won't interrupt the dinner, father has some Business to announce then, and James won't dare disrupt that." The capital letters in business were clear, as was the reverence Rose said the word with.

Melissa looked up from her scroll. "Are you trying to say that there is a line James won't cross, for a good prank?"

Various disbelieving faces waited for Rose's answer. She raised an eyebrow, and then shook her head sadly, giving a mock sigh as she did. "Please, you all keep teasing us about our lack of regard for money, but we do know how we got it. Plus, father taught us most of what we know about pranks, and he's got years more experience." Rose grinned at the enlightened expressions around her. "Trust me, James will not interfere with business, father's revenge would be terrible."

Lisa had a sudden thought, one she shared only with Adam. "Adam, we need to have a conversation with Mr. Evans. He could help us repay the twins for a few pranks."

Adam grinned at her, and sent a mental agreement.

With a plan and a schedule, the group broke up. Until the week was over, at least two Manticores would be watching James and Tiffany all the time, even at night.

James and Tiffany were in fact UTS. They had a great prank all ready, but every time they came near the food, there were people watching them. By Tuesday afternoon, they were getting very frustrated. They were walking around Hogsmeade, trying to ditch the two tailing them. Unfortunately, Rose and Melissa were not that easy to get rid of.

James was considering the problem as they walked. Tiffany was leaving it up to him, and was looking through James's memories. One of James's ways to relax was a Muggle thing, books called 'Epic Fantasy" and Tiffany was looking at one of them in his memories. She found a scene in the book, and called it to James's attention. "James, would this work?"

James looked at the scene. "No, barbeque is a finger food."

Tiffany looked at James's memories of American barbeques, and noted something. What about this?" She said, pointing something out. James considered it, and grinned widely.

He swept Tiffany up in a hug. "Perfect, and I think we can even use our guards to make it work." James was used to hugging Rose, and it took a few seconds for the fact that the warm soft body he was holding tightly was not Rose. He set Tiffany down and the two blushed at each other, before turning back towards the Manticore campsite.

The next morning James wandered over to Rose and offered to help make potato salad. Rose stared at him suspiciously. "What are you up to, James?" Rose blinked and looked around. "Where's Tiffany?"

James sighed. "I'm not up to anything. There are about 300 people here, but only four, maybe five of us know how mom makes her potato salad, and I thought I'd help. Tiffany is already helping, folding napkins with Sonya."

Rose was still suspicious. James, even with the shield he had over the links between them, still had that feel, that air of UTS. Besides which, James's cooking was roughly on a par with Hagrid's baking. That is, you could eat it, if you had to, but you'd rather feed it to your worst enemy. Rose finally gave in, to a point. "You can help Hangeld and Adam lay out plates and utensils. They'll be watching you, so don't try anything."

James smiled sweetly. "I know they will, and after the families are gone, we're going to have a long talk about Chimera using Manticore for a personal project." He left; heading for the long tables everyone would be eating at today.

Tiffany was babbling mindlessly. It was deliberate, but it was still the sort of mindless chatter that makes listeners want to strangle you. Sonya Gebbs had the glazed look of a woman trying to stay awake in Professor Binns' History of Magic class. Sonya was an active girl, always in motion or doing something. Between the repetitive folding of the napkins, and Tiffany's babbling she wanted to be somewhere else. Anywhere else.

"Sonya, why don't you go and get us a couple of trays to carry the napkins out to the table with?" Tiffany was casual about the question, not even stopping the folding she was doing.

Sonya was so happy to be able to do something; she was nearly running when she left the tent. She already had the trays, and was on her way back, when she realized she'd left Tiffany alone. She hurried back to the tent, but Tiffany was still folding napkins when she burst back in.

Tiffany looked up at her sudden entrance, and giggled at her. "You thought I was going to be gone didn't you?" Sonya's blush answered the question for her. "I thought about it, but you know my Yank, he'd use me in a potion if I left something unfinished, and we still have a few more napkins." Tiffany got that absent look, and when she came out of it, she looked at Sonya apologetically. "James says you have to be more careful with Guard duty. Guarding anything is almost always boring, but you can't let your mind, or feet, wander." The two girls finished the napkins, and delivered them to the tables.

At 1400hrs, the Manticores and their families began heading for the tables. Robert and Alexander had been hard at work at the fire pits, and now barbequed everything began weighing down the tables. Spareribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, chops, corn, it was all there, and there were four kinds of home made barbeque sauce to pour over it all.

While most of the meals had been more traditional for the country they were in, James, Robert and Alexander had insisted that it simply was not summer without a barbeque. Adam, the fan of anything western, had agreed, and when Martin and a few of the Wolfpack team had added their thoughts, it was arranged.

Everything seemed normal to Rose who was sitting across from James for once. Until about half way through the meal, when she caught James looking at his watch, in a casual way she knew all too well. "James, what are you up to?"

James looked at her, and for the first time in three days, let his shields drop. "Nothing at all, Rose. I promise, we're not up to anything, anymore."

Rose caught the one important word in that sentence. "What do you mean anymore?"

Rose's only response was a time and soft laughter from James and Tiffany. "Twenty seconds, Sister mine."

Rose was looking around and Chimera was just getting the word, when the air around the tables seemed to shimmer for a second. When everyone could see again, every single person at the tables had become apes. Not just apes, but grape colored apes in baseball caps. The emblem on the front of every cap was the Winged Flame.

Even as people started jumping up, and from the sounds, some were starting to scream, the air shimmered again, and the apes were gone. Everyone that knew the signature looked at James and Tiffany, who had changed with the rest of them. James was calmly handing Tiffany some more ribs, and he looked up at close to one hundred accusing stares. He picked up his burger, ready to eat it, and at them all.

"Next year, I'll get the color right, I promise."