Pokemonsora01 and danny requested this one. Here you go, amigos! Enjoy! Ben 10 and Rath belong to Cartoon Network and Man of Action. I own nothing.

Rachel and Rath

Rachel ran as fast as she could to get home. What had started out as a simple errand to the library turned into a fight as some gangsters had come out of the allies and began pestering her. She had only run for a short mile when she was grabbed from behind by the leader. "You're going nowhere," he hissed as he grabbed her throat, threatening to crush it when the Earth suddenly shook and a cloud of dust came up and when it cleared away, the gangsters saw a huge tiger standing on his back feet. Rachel's mind immediately flashbacked to when she first met this beast.

Flashback:

It was a quiet day broken by a loud voice, shouting so loud that the walls shook.

"Let me tell you something, automatic non-talking washing whatchamacallit! Rath doesn't do laundry and Rath doesn't do baths!"

Wondering what on Earth was going on, Rachel went to the laundry room to find a tiger alien she assumed was this 'Rath' about ready to dismantle the washing machine.

"Rath, stop!" she exclaimed.

"Stay out of this, fragile female creature!" he roared, somewhat scaring her before she punched him in the face, making him stumble back as she quickly did the laundry and got out of the laundry room, not wanting to face that tiger again.

Suddenly, something grabbed her arms and turned her to face said alien. "Let me tell you something, punching female creature!" he roared. "You hit hard and Rath likes that you can fight like him!"

It took a moment for the shock to wear off. "Uh, thank you?" Rachel said, more than a little scared of this Rath who could easily bite her head off.

To her surprise and relief, Rath let her go and she wasted no time getting away from him. "Uh, nice meeting you Rath, but I've really go to get going. Uh, I need to be at the library in an hour!" she said and rushed off, leaving a confused tiger behind.

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief as she was outside and enjoying the sunshine. "Okay, that alien is really scary. Note to self: don't make him angry," she said to herself as she continued walking, not knowing that Rath was watching her and following her.

Flashback

Rachel now realized that Rath must have followed her here and was grateful that he had come. She couldn't take on these gangsters by herself.

Rath growled at the creeps who had their weapons out. "Let me tell you something, miserable gangsters!" he growled. "Rath hates people like you! Rath is going to smash you all! Rath says let the girl go!"

"Make us," said the leader, not as intimidated as his fellow members, who then charged at the tiger.

With a roar, Rath punched and kicked in every direction, knocking out every one of them before turning his attention to the leader who still had Rachel trapped. Roaring, Rath charged and unsheathed his sharp claws. That was all it took for the leader to let Rachel go and she dodged to the side to avoid colliding with the angry alien as he finished scaring the gangsters away.

Rachel sat down on a box to get her thoughts together when Rath appeared in front of her. "Are you okay, Rachel?" he asked, picking her up and holding her up to his eye level.

"Um, yeah," she said, a bit dazed. "I'm okay."

Rath gently set her down and then grabbed her arm, tossing her up on his back. She made a small 'oomph' on landing, but then wrapped her arms over his broad shoulders, clinging tightly like a newborn kitten.

Rath started walking back toward home and Rachel held on as she then remembered that he had just saved her life.

"Rath?" she said. "Thanks for saving me."

"Hey, it's what a big brother does," he said calmly as he felt her head rest on his large shoulder. Without another word, he grabbed the backs of her knees to keep her on his back as her grip went slack and she fell fast asleep, feeling safe with the somewhat temperamental, but protective alien she could call a brother.

Credit for the story plot goes to Pokemonsora01. Thanks again, Amigo! Hope you readers all enjoyed it!

GoldGuardian2418