This story was bugging me until I finally wrote it. Part of it was inspired by "The Lion King". Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The Lion King belongs to Disney, and Ben 10 and all its aliens belong to Cartoon Network and Man of Action. I only own Rachel.

An Enemy Turned Friend

Rachel was jogging near Swampfire's swamp, enjoying the cool morning air before it got too hot to be outside. She paused for a moment and the swamp's rotting vegetation created a smell that she was used to by now. It didn't bother her much, so that was okay.

She took out her communicator to call her friends when she was suddenly tackled and thrown to the ground. Crying out in surprise, she turned angrily to berate who was behind her, but when she saw him, her eyes widened.

He looked like a walking tree with a blue egg in the center with the top branches wrapped around it and his face was on the front part of the egg, making him look very terrifying. Rachel backed up a bit.

"Where is my brother?" he growled at her and she shook her head.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she admitted, but that angered him.

"Yes, you do," he growled again as he summoned some vines and she found herself hanging upside down over the swamp. "Tell me, before I decide to let you take a swim."

Rachel was now really scared as she looked at him and she realized he wouldn't listen, so she filled her lungs up and opened her mouth.

"SWAMPFIRE! WILDVINE! HELP!" she screamed.

Luckily, her two friends weren't far away when they heard her cry for help and headed for her location. Seeing her hanging over the swamp, they then saw the other alien right before he let Rachel go and she screamed, quickly turning herself around to land in a cannonball position in the smelly water, but landed on soft vines instead that curled around her and pulled her back to Wildvine, who held her as she hugged him, shaking at how close she had been to taking a dive in the swamp.

Swampfire had immediately tackled the other alien in anger and they wrestled around to try and pin the other, until the tree-like alien pinned Swampfire down. "You are weaker than me," he hissed.

Swampfire suddenly had a flashback of his brother saying that to taunt him into fighting better when they sparred. He now looked up at the alien pinning him down. "Brother?" he asked, making the other look surprised and confused. "Big brother?"

The tree alien's eyes widened. "It couldn't be," he said. "Swampfire? Little brother?"

Swampfire nodded and was pulled to his feet and into a crushing hug that would have surely broken a few bones, but being made of mostly plants, Swampfire only felt a little pain, but it was drowned away by joy and happiness at seeing his older brother again. The two laughed and hugged each other firmly.

Rachel and Wildvine looked confused. "Um, what's going on?" asked Rachel.

"I'm wondering the same," said Wildvine as he and the girl headed over to the other two.

Swampfire saw them coming. "Brother, these are Wildvine and Rachel, my good friends," he said. "Wildvine, Rachel. This is my older brother, Ultimate Swampfire."

The Ultimate looked at Rachel with a sorrowful face. "I'm so sorry, Rachel," he said. "I had heard that my brother lived with a human girl and thought the worst."

Rachel couldn't blame him. "It's okay," she said. "Just next time, please don't dangle me over the swamp."

He nodded and Swampfire grinned. "You know, brother, there is a way to get Rachel to like you," he said. "You just…,"

He didn't get to finish as Rachel tackled him and pinned him, placing a hand over her mouth. "Finish that sentence and I'll…," but she was also cut short as she felt something poke her side and she yelped, seeing it was Wildvine tickling her. Ultimate Swampfire smiled and suddenly tied up Rachel and Swampfire came up to her.

"Rachel is ticklish," he said to his older brother. "And she especially goes crazy when you do this."

Swampfire lifted Rachel's shirt a little and blew a raspberry into her stomach. She let out a shriek and began laughing as the three plant aliens all tickled her and she laughed her hardest. But then, she somehow got free and tackled Ultimate Swampfire, who was surprised when she found his ticklish spot, which was the same as his brother's, and she tickled him as he laughed his hardest and then all three aliens and Rachel started tickling the others, trying to survive the overwhelming tickles while also tickling each other.

But tickle attacks tend to wear a person out and soon they were all laying down on the ground, slowly recovering from the ticklish sensations, which were slowly fading as they calmed down.

"Man, this family just keeps getting bigger," said Rachel, grinning as she was laying between Swampfire and Ultimate Swampfire, making them and Wildvine chuckle as they then got up and Ultimate Swampfire sent a mental thought to his brother using telepathy and Swampfire nodded with a grin.

Rachel gasped in surprise as Swampfire picked her up unexpectedly and placed her on Ultimate Swampfire's back and the older Methanosian hooked his hands behind her knees to keep her from slipping off and she quickly grabbed his shoulders to hold on as they all began walking back to the mansion.

Rachel leaned her head against the back of Ultimate Swampfire's head and smiled. Her family was growing with each new adventure she had.

And to be honest with herself, as they arrived at the Grant Mansion and she carefully slid down from Ultimate Swampfire's back and hugged all three of her plantlike alien friends who all returned the affectionate hugs, she wouldn't trade her family for anything in the whole wide world.

And that's how Rachel met Ultimate Swampfire and how he became a part of her growing family.

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GoldGuardian2418