Chocolate Cake Cousins

Ben Tennyson licked his lips as he imagined eating the chocolate cake his aunt had placed on the kitchen counter. He stared at it longingly until Natalie came into the room.

"Ben, don't stare at the cake that hard. You'll ruin your appetite. That cake is for desert."

"Aw, but Aunt Natalie. What if I'm too full of broccoli casserole for cake?" Ben whined. He turned away from her. He stuck out his tongue at the idea of broccoli casserole. "Who puts broccoli in a casserole anyway?" he muttered under his breath.

"Vegetable are better for you than cake, Ben," said Natalie until she departed.

Ben slumped his shoulders. He moved away from the cake into the next room. He backed up until he hit something. He turned around.

"Watch it, doofus," said Gwen.

"I thought I smelled an approaching dweeb," said Ben.

"Don't you dare think about sticking your grimy fingers into that cake."

"Who said I was thinking that?"

Gwen frowned. "You have that look on your face."

Ben imitated Gwen's frown. "What look?"

"That look!"

"I don't have look! You have a look. A dumb look. Oh, wait. That's the way your face always looks." Ben burst into laughter.

Gwen shoved him. "Doofus!"

Ben shoved her back. "Dweeb!"

They pushed each other until they attempted to give each other noogies.

"Stop, you're getting nerd on me!" Ben said.

"You stop before you rub any of your stupid on me!" Gwen said.

"Okay, truce," Ben said.

"Fine," Gwen said.

"Tricked you!" Ben punched her in the arm and ran.

"You jerk!" Gwen yelled. She followed Ben to the kitchen. She stopped and gasped. "Hey, look!" She pointed.

Ben turned his head until he gasped. The cake was missing. The window was open.

"The cake! Where'd it go?" Ben asked.

"Did someone really steal it?" Gwen wondered. She looked at the counter and then at the open window. She tilted her head in confusion. "Who would steal a cake?"

"I don't know, but we'd better find out before we get blamed," Ben said.

Gwen gasped. "Mom will kill us!"

"No way! She's not killing me," Ben said until he ran out the patio door. "I'm going to find the cake, or whoever is responsible."

"Wait up!" Gwen ran after him.

The cousins tried to locate clues to the cake's whereabouts. They couldn't find any trace.

"You should turn into Wildmutt and try to sniff out a trail," Gwen suggested.

Ben dialed the Omnitrix. He hit the button. He became Wildmutt. Wildmutt used his strange but keen alien sense to locate footprints invisible to the naked eye. He growled and dug in the dirt. He motioned to Gwen to get on his back until she did. He ran to follow the trail.

Wildmutt traveled to a bridge by the river and went beneath it. He growled at the figure sitting under the bridge consuming the cake.

Kevin E. Levin stuck his fingers in the cake and lifted them to his mouth until he licked them. "What are you losers doing here?"

Gwen developed a shocked expression. "Kevin Levin? You stole my mom's cake!" Her shock turned to anger.

Kevin shrugged as he consumed more cake. "Oh. Was that your house? I wouldn't have guessed. It's pretty shabby."

Gwen's face became red as she trembled with rage. Ben changed back into his human self. He made fists and shook them at Kevin.

"Kevin Levin, you thieving creep. I'm going to make you wish you hadn't messed with my cake! I mean my aunt's cake!" Ben vowed.

"Whatever. A guy's got to eat," Kevin said simply before he threw the cake to the ground. "Too bad this cake sucks!" He stood up and prepared to fight.

Gwen threw an energy spell at Kevin until he dodged. Ben changed into Heatblast and threw fireballs at Kevin while staying away from him. Kevin laughed before he eventually fled.

"I've got better things to do than waste my time here. See you around, you dorks," Kevin called until he disappeared down a dark tunnel.

"You better run!" Ben shouted. He changed back. He frowned while rubbing the back of his head. "Now what do we do? The cake is thrashed."

Gwen folded her arms across her chest. "Stupid Kevin Levin. He thinks he's so cool. If the cake was so bad, then why'd he eat so much of it. Jerk."

"Hello! Earth to Gwen. The cake? Your mom's going to kill us? Remember!" Ben said while waving his arms. He grabbed his head and shook it. "Oh, man! What if she forces us to eat more broccoli?"

He departed. He began to run faster.

"Where are you going?" Gwen shouted.

"Back home. If I make it there first, I can blame YOU for the missing cake!" He laughed until he began running even faster.

"BEN! DON'T YOU DARE!" Gwen yelled. "My mom will never believe you! You were the one who was looking at the cake like you wanted to eat it all, remember!"

"I can try, can't I?"

"BEN!"

They ran all the way home and reached the door at the same time. The cousins shoved each other until they became stuck in the doorway.

"Knock it off! Jerk!" they yelled at each other while shoving and squirming.

They opened their eyes when a feminine voice cleared her throat. They saw Natalie starting at them. Her arms were folded across her chest. She tapped her foot. She looked quite annoyed.

"Well? I'm sure you two have a story to tell," she said.

Ben and Gwen stared at each other until they faced Natalie.

"Would you believe the cake was stolen by this evil kid named Kevin? We tried to fight him, but he threw the cake on the ground and ran away!" they both said.

"Try again," said Natalie.

Ben and Gwen paused for a minute until they pointed at each other.

"She did it!"

"He did it!"

Natalie frowned.

Minutes later, Ben and Gwen labored in the kitchen mixing a new cake to bake and consume. It was a vegetarian cake recipe that Sandra had given Natalie, made with broccoli and carrots. The icing was composed of tofu paste.

"Next time I see Kevin, I'm going to kick his butt so bad," Ben vowed while he cringed. He chopped more broccoli and added it to the cake mix while make a grossed out face.

"Not if I find him first," Gwen said while she gagged at the smell of the tofu from the bowl she was mixing.

"It's not fair!' the cousins whined together.

The End