A/N Hello people of ! It's your favorite author here with another—hold on a second…I'm not your favorite? Crap…well, that was embarrassing…anyhow, let's get this damn disclaimer over with…shall we?
Disclaimer for WHOLE story (because I am too lazy to remember to keep writing it at the top of each chapter): I DON'T OWN Ben 10, Alien Force, Ultimate Alien, or any franchise affiliated with it! Seriously, if I did, would I even be here?
Do you think a ten year-old would be smart enough to think this whole idea up? No…and yes, I was ten at the time the first episode showed on CN…them be some good times! :D Besides, Man of Action owns this show…lucky! DX Well, I can dream, can I?
Now let's see how KD works her way through this genderbend! I'll be working through the whole Ben 10 series with changing the gender of one character and possibly changing a few others to keep this from getting much too complicating just too see how much different this show would be.
WARNING: THIS IS A GENDERBEND! You no like genderbend? Leave…you keep reading and make mean review because of it? BLOCK…I don't put up with intolerable people, mind you, so take heed of my warning unless you want to get block after receiving a possibly immature PM/Review Reply…yeah, I'm sixteen, yet I can act like a kid, big whoop. It's one of my faults next to ADHD, but I can deal with the latter very much…moving on!
Summary: AU As if getting mistaken for the opposite gender wasn't enough, now Ben's life turned from somewhat normal to beyond normal...in a good way. At least for Ben, seeing as being the owner of the Omnitrix DEFINITELY has its upsides!
This is the summary to the first part of the series which involves ten year-old Ben…Go easy on me since this is my first Ben 10 fic and it definitely strays away from the anime/manga/video game type of series I tend to work into…yeah, I be a n00b, but I'll try my hardest, dammit! DX BTW, you'll notice that I'll have to probably make up some alien biology/physiology every now and then, but only because we have yet to see the females of certain species! I'm on my own with that, but at least I'll try my hardest with it! Let's hope my crap year of biology I had as a freshman is as helpful as my use of Google search...eh, whatever works! XD
"This" is talking
"This" is thoughts/flashback
"This" is transmissions/phone calls/radios/etc...
You may start reading, assuming you read the A/N, which if you didn't…:C
…
Getting mistaken for the opposite gender hasn't always been much of a problem for Ben Tennyson…until it got personal. Let's get straight to the point with Ben's full name.
Benjamin Katherine Tennyson…a name that definitely deserves a double-take, don't you think? This…is a product of what happens when a mother finds out that her first-born child would be her only child she could bear and just so happens to be the gender opposite of what she desired. It wasn't much of a problem…until gender became a problem. (1)
Ben grew up in an environment where people assumed your first name confirmed your gender and those who knew what was beyond the name let it slide, thinking it was a phase…let's see what the results of that are! Fast-forward to one faithful shared tenth birthday…
A young boy with short brown hair and green eyes stared questioningly at the red-haired, green-eyed girl in front of him. The girl did not seem amused whatsoever, most likely from something the boy might have done…which just so happened to be complaining about some 'girly' gift he received from the aforementioned red-haired girl.
…
Ben had never expected to hear those words come out of his cousin, Gwen, at all. He was so surprised (more like shocked) that his reaction came out in the form of a shriek, "I'm a girl?"
Gwen arched her brow at Ben, wondering what was wrong with her cousin. Ben should know stuff like this…
"Right?" she thought, shaking her head as she sighed.
It was hard to believe that her cousin, Ben, was a girl…but it was indeed true, according to what Gwen's mother told her. What had Gwen confused was the reaction out of her boyish cousin…that's not normal. Moving on…
"The way you act, it's hard to believe so!" Gwen retorted. "Why are you so surprised?"
Ben looked rather concerned and shocked as he, or rather, she, looked at Gwen. Gwen almost turned away at the pouty look her cousin gave her. It just…didn't suit Ben…it's almost as if she was in trouble, but she wasn't.
"But…I'm a boy…" Ben murmured.
Gwen's eyes widened slightly as she looked at Ben. This didn't…look good and it explained a lot… Her cousin never got the memo…Gwen wasn't going to be the one explaining!
"Aunt Sandra!" Gwen called out.
As of that day, Benjamin Katherine Tennyson finally got the meaning of her girlish middle name…oh, and also finally learned the reason why she never was allowed to go swimming without a shirt on. And along with that, she slowly began to adjust to the discovery of her true gender…
Pfft, not a chance, the only thing that changed was that she went to a different restroom, which was just right after her teacher explained it to the class after getting picked on by a bully for hitting like a girl.
"Oi, doofus, I just so happen to be a girl!" Ben countered, earning a very shocked look from her bully, Cash. "What do you have to say to that?"
As much as Cash would never admit, Ben got him there and had him stunned. Ben looked smug at Cash, finally having stood up her bully…even if it was only for a day and it was just for that moment, it still was so worth it. The after effects of this…Ben could have done without.
For a boy named J.T., Ben's former best friend, now bully and best friend of Cash's…it left him slightly traumatized as in a way where one day J.T. thought he knew everything about his friend, Ben, and now… He found out that his own friend was a girl, when he was so sure that Ben was definitely a boy, I mean, the name…who names their daughter Benjamin?
That would be Sandra Tennyson after finding out that her first-born would be the only child she could have. Unable to have a son she desired since Ben was born female…Sandra decided to cope with this by giving her first born the name she wanted to give to her son, Benjamin. Luckily, for Ben in a sense, Sandra was ready with a more feminine name in case her first born was female, which she had hoped was not since it was a surprise gender birth. Well, that went very well… (2)
Needless to say, Ben didn't take to well to her gender discovery and the reactions of her classmates as she was felt somewhat isolated from them due to just that. Boys were at that age where they thought girls had cooties and were far too stubborn to let a girl play with them, no matter how boyish the girl. As for the girls…Ben just did not like them at all and neither did they as girly things plus Ben equals does not compute and once again, cooties…that is all.
Fortunately for Ben, the second semester went by quickly and before she knew it, it was already the last day of school. Even better, Ben had something to look forward to the minute she got out of school. A summer vacation spent camping with her grandfather…
The mere thought of it just made Ben even more anxious for the last bell to ring, signaling the end of a long and tiring school year. She kept her gaze on the classroom clock, paying very close attention to the minute hand. Only a few more minutes left…pfft, more like hours, as it felt for Ben. Why did time always seem to torture Ben on days like this?
"Come on, come on…" Ben almost seemed to urge at the clock as she muttered.
Ben blinked as she saw the teacher stand up from her seat behind her desk. The teacher looked at the class as she decided to remind them one last time…
"I'll be teaching summer school this year and it's not too late to sign up," the teacher said, oddly happy.
Ben blinked again and snorted. "Tch, yeah right…"
Ben diverted her gaze back at the clock, her heart beginning to race as she noticed that there were only a few more seconds before…
Ring!
Ben immediately stood up from her seat and ecstatically exclaimed, "Yes! Out of here!"
The teacher watched her students walk through the opened door, out of her classroom.
"Everyone, have a good vacation," she said. "And I hope to see you all again in the fall."
It had been a long…and very interesting school year, definitely one of the most unforgettable teaching experiences this teacher has ever had in all her years teaching at Bellwood Elementary School, no thanks to a certain green-eyed brunette. Speaking of which…Ben was almost out the door when her teacher called out to her.
"Benjamin," she said.
Ben immediately stopped just right under the doorway and looked back at her teacher.
"Could I have a word with you before you go?" the teacher asked, holding out a paper airplane that Ben recognized from early this afternoon.
Ben huffed and turned as she walked over to her teacher. Freedom has been prolonged for Ben…
Moments later,
Ben walked out of the school building wearing a rather unsatisfied expression on her face. After a bit of a lecture, Ben got a 'try to act your own gender next year' from her teacher. It's not as if it was much of a problem…right?
"Whatever…" she thought.
Ben blinked as she caught something out of the corner of her eye. Her expression went from unsatisfied to a very distasteful one as she saw that it was Cash and J.T. picking on a boy. Not that again…Ben was seriously getting tired of Cash and J.T.'s antics…something had to be done!
"Well, time to take one for the team if this goes wrong…" Ben thought as she walked over to the three boys.
Cash Murray was tall for his age and was rather lanky, but despite his lanky appearance, he could pack one heck of a mean punch…Ben knew that from experience. And who could forget about that distinctive, not to mention stupid (as Ben would put it), oblong head and face? Ben would certainly not.
And where Cash was, J.T. was sure to follow. Not as tall and lanky as Cash, but definitely taller than Ben and the guy he and Cash were picking on, it's hard to believe someone like J.T. could end up as someone like Cash. How Cash did it, Ben would never know but she knew that she did not appreciate what Cash did to her former best friend.
Jamie was not having a good last day of school as he was backed into a tree by Cash and J.T. How he hoped they would have forgotten of him today…but they didn't. Now all Jamie could do right now is listen to the two bullies and hope they went easy on him today. Fortunately for him, they had a proposition for him.
"Normally we'd take your money and beat you up," Cash said as he brought his fist into the palm of his hand for emphasis.
Jamie trembled as he watched Cash walk up to him.
"But since it's the last day of school," Cash said, placing his hand on the tree bark just above Jamie's head. "We're gonna give you a break…now fork over the cash so we can get outta here!"
Ben scowled as she looked at the two bullies picking on Jamie. Jamie never deserved to be picked on…he was a nice kid and possibly, one of the few kids who still acted somewhat normally around Ben after the whole gender discovery. Though not much of a friend, more like an acquaintance, Ben still appreciated the boy's company every once in a while.
"Leave him alone!" Ben suddenly blurted out.
Cash and J.T. diverted their gaze off Jamie and onto Ben. Ben swallowed the hard lump that formed in her throat.
"No turning back, now…" she thought.
J.T. scowled at Ben. "Get lost, shrimp."
"Can it, four-eyes!" snapped Ben. "I said back off!"
J.T. was taken rather aback with Ben's comment about his glasses, seeing as Ben happened to be the one who stood up for him when the rest of the class picked on him once he began wearing glasses in the first grade. He shrugged it off moments afterwards…why should he care?
Cash was rather amused with Ben, smirking as he saw the determined look on her face. He was very well aware that Ben was a girl, but that didn't stop him from picking on her. It just gave him a bigger reason to keep on picking on her.
"Oh, looks like we got us a hero!" Cash sneered. "Suppose we don't wanna back off!"
Ben clenched her teeth…she knew this was going to happen. She kept her ground as J.T. and Cash walked over to her. She looked defiantly at J.T., every memory made with him when they were younger suddenly fading away from mind. It was as of now that Ben knew…she lost him. The grief of losing the friend was short-lived as J.T. spoke.
"What you gonna do about it, Tennyson?" J.T. taunted Ben.
Ben growled as she, J.T. and Cash stared off. This went on for a few moments until Cash made the first move, something Ben had anticipated. She charged at Cash and ducked a grab made at her as she flipped forward onto the ground and landed gracefully onto her feet. She turned quickly, her eyes widening as J.T. was closing in on her. Ben quickly got into a stance and hoped that her cousin's small lessons on the techniques she learned would come in handy by now. Ben blocked a punch from J.T. and countered back with a deft punch to the stomach.
J.T. keeled over from the harsh blow to his stomach.
"That should keep him down long enough…" Ben thought as she directed her attention to Cash.
Cash was very miffed to see someone like Ben beat down his best friend…no, only he and J.T. were supposed to beat down people! In a fit of rage, Cash charged recklessly at Ben only to meet the same fate as his friend, J.T.
Moments later,
Ben nodded her head in approval at the semi-unconscious heap in front of her that was Cash and J.T. Alongside to knowing the reason as to why she was never allowed to swim without a shirt, Ben also found out the reason why she was placed in separate gymnastics contests back when she took up the sport with her cousin. Those were some days in which Ben had something to brag about being better than Gwen… (3)
Why the two were placed together in gymnastics? Their mothers thought it was a good way to get the two getting to know each other better. Tch, that worked out really well!
Mentally congratulating herself for a job well done, Ben turned to Jamie, who looked rather stunned but very grateful.
"You okay?" Ben asked Jamie.
"I am now…thanks," said Jamie.
Ben smiled and nodded. "No problem…just something I should've done a while back…"
Jamie arched his brow at Ben. "Then why didn't you?"
Ben shrugged. "Too many witnesses…"
"Good point…well, be seeing ya!" Jamie said, waving at Ben before taking off.
Ben waved back, feeling very good about herself.
Honk! Honk!
Ben perked up as her ears picked up a very audible and familiar sounding noise. She turned, smiling widely at the sight of a beat-up looking RV. Driving the RV was a man in his late fifties with short, gray hair and a distinctive flower-patterned red shirt. He smiled warmly at Ben.
"Hurry up Ben!" he said. "We're burning daylight! I wanna make it to the campsite by nightfall!"
Ben didn't hesitate to make her way towards the entrance into the RV. She was greeted at the entrance by the same man, Maxwell Tennyson, aka, Grandpa Max.
"Grandpa!" exclaimed Ben.
Max smiled at Ben and gently ruffled his granddaughter's hair before making his way back to the driver's seat. Ben closed the door behind her and walked up the steps into the hallway, still smiling.
"I have been so looking forward to this!" Ben said, her smile suddenly ceasing afterwards at the mere glimpse of a certain red-haired girl sitting at the dining table.
After a few seconds of silence and stillness, Ben turned and saw that it was her cousin, Gwen. Gwen didn't seem to be enjoying herself at all.
"What…what are you doing here?" Ben asked Gwen before looking back at Max. "What's she doing here?"
Gwen glared at Ben. "Take it easy, dweeb! This wasn't my idea…somebody convinced my mom that going camping for the summer would be a good experience for me."
Gwen glanced at Max before leaning back into her seat and crossing her arms.
"Grandpa, please…tell me you didn't…" said Ben.
Max just smiled at Ben as he explained, "I thought it would be fun if your cousin came along with us this summer…is that a problem?"
Max looked sternly at his two granddaughters, making the two girls look at each other. What Max didn't tell Ben was that there was another reason why he brought Gwen along. Ever since Ben discovered the truth about her gender, Max thought it would be a good idea to have Gwen along as a female figure since Ben lacked some basic feminine etiquette. Max knew it wouldn't work well, but it wouldn't hurt to try.
Sometime later,
Ben and Gwen sat across from each other at the table, their gaze turned away from one another as they couldn't stand to look at the other. Ben had her arms crossed as she looked down.
"Ugh, I can't believe it…" said Ben. "I wait all school year to go on this trip and now the Queen of Cooties is along for the ride…"
Ben looked resentfully at Gwen as the red-haired girl glared at her cousin.
"Hey!" snapped Gwen. "I had my own vacation already planned out too, ya know?"
To prove her point, Gwen took out a piece of paper from under the table titled, "Vacation Schedule". Gwen smiled as she pointed at the schedule, explaining the different colors on the paper.
"Each activity is all color coated so I never did the same thing two days in a row," Gwen explained.
Ben looked at the schedule in disbelief, blinking twice to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. She wasn't…
Gwen's smiled ceased as she lowered the schedule. "Now I'm stuck with my geekazoid cousin going camping for the next three months!"
Ben narrowed her eyes at Gwen. "Geek…"
Gwen narrowed her eyes back at Ben as she countered, "Jerk."
Max could already feel the sparks flying off his granddaughters. The two never did get along much…
"Something tells me it's going to be a long summer…" he said to himself.
The ride to the campsite was definitely not a quiet and peaceful one (at least, most of it wasn't)…especially since Gwen brought up the subject of Ben's previous gender confusion phase in which she thought she was male. Ben, taking it as something personal, lashed out on Gwen in a somewhat violent manner that included some hair pulling and taekwondo techniques used on each other. Max had to make a pit stop along the way to pull the two girls off each other.
"Now I don't wanna see you two using what you learned on each other," Max sternly said to Ben and Gwen. "Do I make myself clear?"
Ben and Gwen looked sheepishly at their grandfather before both saying an awkward, "Yes…"
The rest of the ride towards the campsite after that was a somewhat long and awkward one for the two girls, but it was quiet…
The sun had already set by the time they reached the campsite, by then, Gwen and Ben went back to their usual antics towards each other…only, without any fighting. The two were now sitting across from each other at the picnic table just in front of where the RV was parked. Ben and Gwen were waiting to see what their grandfather had in mind for dinner.
What they didn't expect to see, was a bowl full of living and crawling white worms…
"Okay, I give up," said Ben. "What is that?"
Max smiled at the perplexed looks on his granddaughters' faces.
"Marinated mealworms," he replied. "Hard to find them fresh in the states…you know, they're considered a delicacy in some countries."
"And totally gross in others," Gwen remarked as she watched a mealworm crawl across the table. She shuddered at the sight and thought of even eating one.
"If these don't sound good, I got some smoked sheep's tongue in the fridge," Max suggested.
It didn't sound as bad and gross as marinated mealworms, but the thought of eating a sheep's tongue still grossed out Ben and Gwen.
"Uhh…couldn't we just have a burger or something?" Ben asked innocently, hoping to change her grandfather's mind.
Unfortunately, it didn't as Max just smiled and shook his head.
"Nonsense," he said. "This summer's gonna be an adventure for your taste buds. I'll grab the tongue…"
With that said, Max turned around and made his way into the RV. Out of earshot and sight, Ben and Gwen used this chance to converse. It was at this moment, rare and unusual situation called for a mutual understanding for cooperation between the two.
"Okay, I've got a half-eaten bag of corn chips and a candy bar in my backpack," Ben said to Gwen. "What have you got?"
"Some rice cakes and hard candy," Gwen replied.
"Think we can make them last the whole summer?" Ben asked as she looked at Gwen.
The two shared a mutual moment of defeat as even they knew, that would only last them a week at the most.
"How much you got?" Ben suddenly asked.
Gwen blinked and replied, "I got up to fifty dollars worth of allowance on me…you?"
Ben furrowed her brow in deep thought as she tried to remember how much she even brought with her. "I'd say…uh…"
"You didn't waste all your money on Sumo Slammers merchandise, did you?" Gwen said as she face-palmed.
Ben scowled at Gwen. "No! I think I have around seventy-five on me…"
Gwen looked questioningly at Ben, which she noticed.
"I did a lot of chores…some which I'm not so proud of," Ben said, shuddering at the memory of cleaning the bathroom and gutter.
Sometime later,
Max found his granddaughters across from each other with their backs turned against the other. Ben was deeply enthralled into her game, which she played on a handheld console. Gwen was on her laptop, having found a stable Wi-Fi connection. Max held a bag full of marshmallows in his hands, hoping to appease the girls with them.
"Who wants to roast marshmallows?" Max asked, looking intently at the two girls.
No reaction…
Max's smiled ceased as he tried to think up another way to get the girls' attention away from their electronic devices.
"Okay, um…how bout we tell scary stories?" he asked.
This time, he got a reaction out of Ben and Gwen…though, it was mostly a snide comment against each other.
"Scarier than having to spend your summer with a freak of a cousin?" Ben asked, laughing afterwards.
Gwen was not amused…
"I'd like to, Grandpa, but I'm busy doing a web search on cures for extreme doofusness," Gwen remarked, smirking. "Nothing yet, Ben, but let's not give up hope!"
Ben scowled at Gwen before diverting her attention back to her game.
"Aw, c'mon, you two, we're all in this together," said Max. "You can mope around like this all summer or we can have some fun. Now, what do ya say?"
"I vote for moping," Gwen said, not giving a moment's worth of thought.
Ben turned off her game, having lost her interest in continuing to play no thanks to Gwen and having been defeated in-game.
"I'm gonna go for a walk," Ben said as she stood up, leaving her game on the ground. "Smell ya around, Gwen."
Max watched his younger granddaughter walk away into the forest.
"I, uh…think they're starting to grow on each other," he said somewhat uncertainly.
Moments later in the forest,
Ben dug her hands into her deep green cargo pants as she continued to walk down the dirt path.
"Aw, man…" Ben complained. "This is gonna be the worst vacation ever! I might as well have gone to summer school…"
Ben trailed off as she noticed a bright streak of light in the night sky. Ben smiled as she stared at the light in awe.
"Whoa, a shooting star!" exclaimed Ben.
Ben continued to stare at the sky in awe…until the shooting star suddenly changed direction and headed straight towards her, at which Ben's eyes widened in shock. Ben immediately turned around and started running for it, screaming bloody murder as she did. The shooting star barely missed her (thankfully, she jumped out of the way in time) as it crashed into the ground, making a crater in its landing and kicking up dirt in the air.
Ben coughed a bit, groaning afterwards as she had landed onto the ground, right on her stomach. It did not feel good and Ben had a feeling she'll be feeling it the next morning… Her pain quickly subsided as her attention focused entirely on the crater the shooting star made. Curiosity getting the better of her, Ben stood up and walked over to the edge of the ground to get a closer look at the shooting star. It was there, Ben discovered it was no shooting star…far from it. It was a metallic sphere of some sort…that resembled a satellite, or at least it did to Ben.
"Looks like a satellite or something," said Ben.
Ben continued to stare at the satellite-resembling object in the crater. Unbeknownst to her, the ground below her was crumbling and she didn't find out about it until it was too late. By then, she had already slid down the crater and landed flat on her backside. She recovered quickly and got up off the ground, dusting off the dirt on her pants. Her gaze focused back on the metallic sphere before her.
The sphere suddenly made a sound as the top half opened up, revealing what seemed to be a watch inside it. Ben's gaze locked completely onto the watch as it began to glow green.
"A watch?" questioned Ben. "What's a watch doing in outer space?"
A smile quickly formed on Ben's lips as she reached for the watch with her left hand. Suddenly, the watch jumped up and latched itself onto Ben's left wrist, scaring the living daylights out of her. Ben started screaming bloody murder (again) as she tried to, at first, throw off the watch.
"Get it off me!" Ben screamed as she continued to wave her left arm. "Get it off! Get it off!"
Ben then tried to pull it off, but in her haste and panic, she ended up losing her balance and falling back onto the ground.
THUD!
A few seconds later, Ben quickly got up from the ground and climbed out of the crater. She made a run for it, wanting nothing more than to get away from the crater and her grandfather.
"Grandpa!" she shouted.
Back at the campsite,
Gwen's keystrokes were audible; as was the campfire…it was just that quiet. Something seemed wrong and Max thought so as well.
"Hmm…Ben's been gone a while," said Max. "Well, I'd guess she can't get into too much trouble out here."
Gwen ceased her typing and looked back at her grandfather as she added, "Unless she wound up bear food…"
Max turned to Gwen and looked at her sternly.
"Hey, I can dream, can't I?" Gwen said, smiling.
Back in the forest,
Ben got over her fright as she started to try various methods to get the watch off her wrist. Attempt number three…using a stick, Ben tried to pry off the watch…but to no avail as the stick broke. Looking at the broken stick, Ben growled and landed onto her knees in defeat. She held up her left arm and decided to get a closer look at the watch now that it was attached onto her wrist.
It looked like a huge wrist watch that was primarily black and gray in color with a gray dial in the middle. The dial had a green hourglass shape on it. Ben tentatively touched the watch with her right hand, jolting slightly when the faceplate suddenly popped up and the watched emitted a strange, beeping noise.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Ben.
Ben blinked a few times and looked around, almost guiltily, before focusing her gaze back on the watch. The small silhouette of some unknown thing appeared on the faceplate.
"Cool!" Ben exclaimed as she used her right hand's index finger to push down on it.
The second Ben pushed the faceplate down, the watch stopped emitting a sound and, suddenly, red rocks began to spawn from underneath the watch. The rocks soon spread over Ben's body, completely covering the girl in a matter of seconds. The last thing Ben saw before blacking out temporarily was the flicker of flames.
Blinking a few times afterwards, having regained her senses; Ben looked over herself, wondering what just happened. What Ben saw was enough to make her scream…which she did. Her whole body was covered in red rocks with what seemed to be lava inside. She was on fire…literally! Her whole head was completely fiery and…when did her chest get bigger? Forget that! When did Ben go from being short to suddenly taller?
Ben had not only gone through a sudden and noticeable growth spurt, but her body also seemed to have matured as well. No longer was she short and boyishly built, now being distinctively taller, slimmer, and more femininely shaped…like a girl would usually be in her later years. Ben was only ten…Nothing made sense, except for one thing!
"AAAHHH!" screamed Ben. "I'm on fire! I'm on fire!"
Aside from a different figure, Ben's voice seemed to have matured as well, sounding more womanly with a distinct, boyish ring to it. Ben flailed around and ran for it in panic, making a turn around a tree and back to where she was before. It was there, that Ben realized something…
"Hey…I'm on fire…" Ben said, tightening her fists. "And I'm okay! Check it out…"
After the discovery that, despite being on fire, Ben felt no pain whatsoever, Ben saw her new form in a new light. Smiling, Ben placed her hands on her hips…which were more prominent in this form than in her original form.
"I'm totally hot!" Ben exclaimed, laughing afterwards.
Whether she meant it literally or figuratively, Ben didn't seem to care. She stopped laughing when noticed the tree behind her. An idea popped up in mind as she turned around.
"Oh, yeah!" she said, narrowing her eyes at the tree. "Here goes!"
Ben held up her right hand and flicked a small fireball at the tree, burning off a branch. Satisfied with her form's abilities, Ben smiled as she looked at her hand.
"That's what I'm talking about!" she exclaimed.
Deciding to test out her powers a bit more, Ben brought her hands together and a fireball began to spawn in the palm of her hands.
"Liking it!" said Ben.
Ben looked at the large fireball in her hand and looked at a row of trees. Without even thinking about the consequences, Ben threw the fireball at the trees and destroyed three of them in a row. Smiling, Ben felt rather proud…that was until she saw the after effects of her fireball. Flames began to spread out on the trees and ground.
"Wait…stop!" Ben yelled, running towards the growing flames.
The flames did no such thing and continued to spread, much to Ben's chagrin.
"Uh-oh…" she said, looking around.
She was so in deep if she didn't do something! Ben tried stomping out the flames, but she only made it worse, seeing as she was on fire…
"Oh, man…" Ben said, sounding very troubled. "I am so gonna get busted for this!"
Back at the campsite,
Gwen walked out of the RV, having placed away her laptop to let it charge. Max was sitting on a rock in front of the campfire. Deciding to join her grandfather, Gwen made her way towards Max. She blinked and slowed down her pace as she noticed something coming out of the forest.
"What's that?" asked Gwen.
Max stood up and turned around, his eyes widening at the sight of black smoke coming out of the forest. He looked down at his granddaughter, whom looked back at him.
"Looks like the start of a forest fire," Max answered. "We better let the ranger station know. Probably some darn, fool camper out there, messing around with something he shouldn't…"
DOT DOT DOT…
Gwen and Max's eyes widened as they came to a realization.
"Ben!" said Max.
Max walked over to a box right by the campfire and opened it. Inside was a first-aid kit and two fire extinguishers, all three having been packed inside the box in case of emergencies…this just so happened to be one. Max took out the fire extinguishers and handed one to Gwen.
"Better take this!" he said.
The two then made their way into the forest as the fire's glow began to show.
Meanwhile with Ben,
Ben was still trying to stomp out the flames, but it still just made it even worse.
"This would be so cool if it weren't so…not cool," Ben remarked as she continued to stomp the ground.
Gwen was doing somewhat well for someone who carried a bulky fire extinguisher with both hands. She looked anxiously at a couple of flames on a nearby tree and aimed the nozzle at them, spraying them over with white foam. The flames quickly died down under the presence of the white foam…as it should. Gwen continued to do this for a full minute until she unknowingly came across a still stomping Ben…the two didn't notice each other until Gwen sprayed foam on Ben, who was in the way.
Even then, they didn't notice each other until Gwen heard a groan and focused her attention on the fiery being in front of her. Gwen blinked a few times at the fiery being as it stared at her with a frown on its face. Gwen's eyes widened as she screamed.
Ben didn't take to this well and began to panic. "Look, I know I look weird, but there's no reason to be scared!"
Leave it to Ben to successfully convince her cousin otherwise…let's see the results!
SLAM!
Ben yelped in pain as Gwen brought the fire extinguisher over her head and knocked her back a few feet away. Ben tumbled onto the ground, leaving a few more flames that made everything just even worse in her path. Ben got up onto her knees and was about to rub her head when white foam was suddenly sprayed over her.
"Hey!" she exclaimed.
Ben coughed a few times after Gwen stopped spraying her. She spat out some foam that got into her mouth and then glared at Gwen. The flame on Ben's head had flickered out momentarily, no thanks to the fire extinguisher, but quickly came back with a brighter flame.
Gwen held out the fire extinguisher in front of herself, the nozzle aimed at the fiery being. She was not taking well to this… Where the heck was her idiot cousin?
"I don't know what you are, but you'll stay down there if you know what's good for you!" said Gwen.
Ben continued to glare at Gwen until a sudden idea popped in mind. Smiling deviously, Ben waved her hand at Gwen's left shoe and created a small fire right on it. Gwen immediately felt the heat off the small flame on her shoe and yelped.
"Ow!" she exclaimed.
This earned a cheap laugh out of Ben…she rarely ever did pranks this low, but after getting hit over the head with a fire extinguisher…Ben could make a few exceptions. And it was Gwen…
Meanwhile with Gwen,
The red-haired girl was hopping around on her right foot in panic as she tried to get a good aim at it with the fire extinguisher. Once she did, Gwen sprayed foam over her left foot and looked over it. Her heart was practically pounding in her chest out of sheer panic from the small scare.
Finding no damage aside from a slightly singed shoe, Gwen turned her attention to the fiery being. It was so on…
"I warned you…" Gwen said darkly, already preparing to strike the being with the fire extinguisher again.
The fiery being just smiled smugly at her as it retorted, "Don't even think about it…freak."
Gwen's expression softened as realization hit her…despite the obviously mature voice the fiery being had, she recognized that cocky and immature tone it had anywhere!
"Ben…?" she said, somewhat uncertain. "Is that you?"
Gwen lowered the fire extinguisher and walked up to the fiery being that she recognized as Ben. The first thing Gwen noticed that, aside from Ben's new form, her cousin was noticeably taller. Gwen just barely came up to her cousin's shoulders…just a little above the weird dial with the hourglass-shape on Ben's chest. Another thing that Gwen noticed…was that Ben looked oddly feminine…and mature. What is wrong with this scene?
A lot of things, that's what!
"What happened?" asked Gwen.
Ben began to tell her tale of how she changed into some weird, fiery creature. It first started with her just walking about, minding her own business when some meteor almost crushed her…did she mention that it wasn't a meteor but a satellite? Yup, she did…skipping out a few details, Ben moved over to how the watch she found inside the satellite suddenly jumped and latched onto her wrist. She might have skipped some more details, seeing as she just mentioned that when she tried to get the watch off, she was suddenly on fire, which referred to her transformation and how it didn't hurt…but seeing as Ben and Gwen were in the middle of a fricken' forest fire…yeah, who needs complete details?
Certainly not Gwen as she could barely understand what her cousin was telling her, no thanks to Ben's fast talking speed… All she knew was that the forest fire was an accident caused by Ben, who was on fire so she didn't mean any actual harm, and something about a watch from a satellite. That pretty much summed it up…
"Gwen!" a voice called out.
Gwen and Ben's attention suddenly shifted as they turned to see their grandfather running up. Max was about to ask Gwen if she was okay, but stopped midway when he saw the fiery being (Ben) standing next to Gwen.
"What in blazes?" he exclaimed.
"Hey, Grandpa…guess who," Gwen said as she gestured at the fiery being next to her.
Gwen had no idea how Ben still was able to smile and just wave and her grandfather as if there was nothing completely wrong.
"It's me, Grandpa!" said the fiery being. "I'm tall!"
Obviously…Max had no idea what the heck happened to his own granddaughter…the look on his face seemed as if he recognized what Ben was, but that might have just been the imaginations of Gwen and Ben. Moving onto the point was that there were still many questions that needed to be answered…specifically, Max's, since he missed the somewhat detailed explanation from Ben.
"Ben…what happened to you?" asked Max.
"Well, when I was walking, this meteor—" Ben was cut off by Gwen.
"Um, excuse me…major forest fire burning out of control, remember?" Gwen brought up.
Oh, that's right…it was to know why Ben would forget about that, but it might have something to do with her being on fire. That must be it and now what to do…?
…darn, out of ideas.
"What do we do?" Ben asked Max.
Max turned away from Ben and looked at the flames, taking in the whole situation that his granddaughter was on fire and…that was it! Fire!
"Backfire…" he replied, turning to Ben. "Start a new fire and let it burn into the old fire. They'll snuff each other out…think you can do it, Ben?"
Ben blinked and grinned. "Shooting flames…I can definitely do!"
Ben turned around and ran off into the deeper part of the forest. Gwen and Max watched as Ben disappeared into the flames, off to do some business.
A few moments later,
Ben stopped when she came to a somewhat distant, but unburned part of the forest. Ben looked at her hands and grinned. She waved her hand over the trees, setting them aflame as she shot out a flamethrower from the palm of her hand. As she did this, she couldn't help but do something very strange, but oddly fitting to the situation.
Back with Max and Gwen,
As Gwen and Max made their way out of the forest of flames, they stopped momentarily when they heard a loud and clear voice…singing?
"Burn, baby, burn!" sang the voice.
Gwen and Max had to stay for a full minute to distinguish the voice within the flames before realizing that it was Ben singing to the song, Disco Inferno. (4)
"I heard somebody say, burn, baby, burn!" Ben continued on.
With that realization made, Gwen and Max continued making their way out of the forest of flames. Once the two were out and back at the campsite, Gwen looked at her grandfather.
"I don't know how Ben knows the lyrics to a song from the 1970s…" Gwen began, "…but you gotta admit, Ben's got a good voice in this form."
"Though, she does have a bit of satirical humor to sing that song in this situation," Max remarked. "Even so, she does have a nice voice."
"Okay, so what did I miss?" asked a voice.
Max and Gwen turned to see Ben walking out of the forest, looking oddly pleased with herself. Aside from doing a job well done, Ben finally got rid of that urge she had to sing that song ever since she found out she had pyrokinetic abilities. The song was playing on the radio on the drive to the campsite…been stuck in her head since and now Ben had a good outlet and got it done and over with.
"It feels good…" thought Ben.
The backfire was a complete success, albeit with half of the forest burned down as collateral damage. Though, considering the possible results without the backfire, it was a small price to pay to stop a fire. Now to more important matters…
One explanation later,
Ben sat on a boulder around a campfire next to Gwen (who held a bag of marshmallows) and Max, having just finished giving an explanation as to what happened to have caused to her transform into what she was right now. Max seemed to understand his granddaughter very well, but was a little uncertain about a few aspects of her explanation…like about the watch.
"And you say that this watch jumped up and clamped onto your wrist?" said Max.
Gwen opened up and reached into the bag she held for a marshmallow, which she tossed over to Ben. Ben caught it in between her index finger and thumb, letting it burn for a certain amount of time. It took a bit of practice before she got the timing right to toasting the marshmallows to her liking.
"Hey, this time, it wasn't my fault!" Ben said, tossing the enflamed marshmallow into her mouth. "I swear!"
"I believe you, Ben," said Max.
Really, he did…
"Think she's gonna stay a monster forever?" Gwen asked her grandfather.
Max didn't seem to take too well with the term 'monster' to describe what Ben was.
"She's not a monster…she's an alien," Max corrected, earning suspicious stares from his granddaughters.
Silence…
"I-I mean, look at her!" Max said as he gestured at Ben. "What else could she be? And she did say the watch came from a satellite from outer space."
Max had managed to catch himself and think up a pretty good explanation for his sudden and surprising correction. Ben found her grandfather's reason pretty plausible, but that also brought up one problem…Little League.
"I don't wanna be fire guy forever!" Ben complained. "How am I supposed to play Little League this fall if I charcoal the ball every time I catch a pop fly?"
"Easy…you don't," answered Gwen. "You're not a boy, remember."
Ben blinked a few times and narrowed her eyes at Gwen. Her cousin did have a point…
"What about softball?" Ben suggested.
A reasonable replacement for Little League, but still had the same problem.
"Well, then you're screwed," replied Gwen.
Ben glared at Gwen.
"Gee, thanks for the confidence boost," Ben said sarcastically.
Gwen grinned. "You're welcome."
"That's enough of that," Max said, deciding to prevent this from going any farther. "We'll figure something out."
A sudden beeping noise caught the attention of all three of them. Ben blinked as the attention turned directly at her chest. She looked down and noticed why as the hourglass shape on the dial on her chest was blinking out with a red light instead of the green it was before. It was almost as if it was timing itself out…
Ben stood up just as the beeping noise whirred out and right after that, a red light flashed. Gwen and Max were blinded momentarily, but once the light faded out, they found Ben back to her original form. Ben blinked a few times, slightly stunned before taking a look at herself. She laughed and smiled at the sight of her not-on-fire arms and hands.
"I'm me again!" she exclaimed.
Gwen frowned as she held up a marshmallow. "Aww, too bad…I liked you better when you were a briquette…"
Ben ignored Gwen as she went back to trying to get the watch off her wrist. So far, Ben wasn't making any progress.
"Still can't get this thing off!" said Ben.
"Better not fool with it anymore until we know exactly what we're dealing with," Max warned Ben.
Ben stopped pulling off the watch and looked at her grandfather. Max flipped on a flashlight and turned.
"I'll go check out that crash site," he said. "You guys stay here until I get back."
Gwen and Ben watched their grandfather walk away from them. The two stayed silent until Max disappeared from view, which Ben decided to take the chance and go someplace behind the RV to get a better look over at the watch. She wasn't one to be expected to follow orders, so it's not much of a surprise.
"I wonder what this does…" Ben said as she stood behind the back of the RV.
Ben began to tamper with the watch, tapping the faceplate with her index finger.
"Caught ya!" exclaimed a voice.
Ben immediately flinched and slowly turned to see…Gwen. She was not amused to see Gwen laughing at her and scowled. Ben mimicked Gwen's laughter in an insulting manner, which she meant it to be.
"Very funny, like your face," Ben retorted, quickly going back to tampering with the watch.
Gwen frowned as she watched Ben turn the watch's cap.
"Grandpa said not to mess with that thing," said Gwen.
Ben didn't seem to care where Gwen was going at as she continued to mess with the watch.
"Yeah," Ben said, tapping the faceplate a few times. "So what's your point?"
Ben brought the faceplate to her mouth and began biting at it. Gwen looked strangely at her cousin.
"Did your parents drop you when you were a baby?" Gwen questioned, obviously meaning to insult Ben.
Ben continued to bite at the faceplate, stopping when she seemed to have bitten a bit too hard and hurt one of her teeth. Ben yelped and brought her hand to her cheek.
"Stupid baby tooth…" she muttered, rubbing her cheek.
"Serves ya right," Gwen said, crossing her arms.
Ben glared at Gwen. "Come on…you can't tell me you aren't a little bit curious what else this thing can do?"
Gwen turned her head away from Ben as she placed her hands on her hips. "Not in the least."
Ben stared at Gwen. "You sure you're related to me?"
Meanwhile with Max,
Max had arrived to the crash site just a few moments ago. He flashed the flashlight over the area he was examining and noticed something rather out of place. The crash site seemed to have taken some more damage…and so did the satellite as Max found what seemed to be left of it.
"I don't like this one little bit…" he said as he looked over a shattered remain.
It was recently damage by the looks of it and that wasn't exactly good…
Back at the campsite,
Gwen watched her cousin continue to mess with the watch. As she did, Gwen was roasting a marshmallow over the campfire.
"Look, if I can figure this thing out, maybe I can help people," Ben explained as she tapped at the watch. "And I mean really help them, not just…you know, make things worse."
Ben still felt guilty about accidentally setting the forest on fire and almost creating one huge forest fire. Gwen could see that, but her curiosity got the better of her to ask something relating to the whole situation somewhat.
"So…what did it feel like going all alien like that?" asked Gwen.
"It freaked me out at first," Ben replied. "It was like I was me, but it was also like I was somebody else!"
Ben stopped messing with the watch at that moment as a small beeping noise emitted from it. The watch's faceplate popped up again and a silhouette of the alien Ben turned into appeared on the faceplate. It emitted the same beeping noise like last time.
"Hey, I think I figured out how I did it!" said Ben. "Should I try it again? Just once?"
Ben turned the cap on the watch's faceplate and the silhouettes on the faceplate changed, showing various forms or rather, aliens. She stopped when she came upon a certain silhouette that reminded her a bit of an animal…maybe a dog of some sort.
"I wouldn't," Gwen remarked.
Ben looked at Gwen with a deadpanned expression. "No duh, you wouldn't."
Ben turned her attention back at the watch and smiled. She lifted her right hand up and pushed down the faceplate, a green light suddenly flashing once more. Veins began to visibly pop out on Ben's wrist, moving up until the veins covered her whole arm and reached her face. Ben blacked out momentarily once the veins reached her face, her eyes turning a golden color afterwards.
The next thing Ben knew…she felt rather hairy. There was a good reason for that because Ben started growing pale orange hair…or rather, fur, all over her body, soon covering her face and eyes. It was at that point, Ben was blinded, no longer able to see what was going on around her at the moment. She couldn't see but feel her teeth grow larger and sharper up to the point that they were protruding over her upper lip. Just before her form changed completely, Ben literally opened her mouth and snarled.
Afterwards, Ben no longer looked human at all, as she took on a more bestial form. Her current form resembled a large, pale orange dog without a tail and eyes. Her teeth were very defined and were on the outside of her mouth. She had razor sharp black claws, porcupine-like quills on her back, and 'gills' on the side of her neck. The watch was now located on the upper part of her arm and, in the right angle, Ben seemed to have a bit of a feminine shape.
Gwen took one look at Ben in her new form and grimaced at the saliva that dribbled out of her cousin's mouth.
"Eww, this thing's even uglier than you are normally!" said Gwen.
Ben heard that loud and clear. She barred her teeth at Gwen and growled at her red-haired cousin. Gwen was taken slightly aback from Ben's behavior, but waved it off as she continued on.
"Put a flea collar on this mutt!" Gwen remarked, earning a few snarls and growls from Ben.
Ben was obviously insulted, but Gwen didn't seem to care as she noticed a prominent feature on her cousin.
"And no eyes?" she added, waving her hand over Ben's face. "What good is this one if it can't see?"
Gwen stopped and paused for a second. She held up her stick with a marshmallow placed at the end of it and looked at it. A devious grin formed on her lips as her eyes shifted over to Ben. Gwen carefully walked behind Ben, making sure she went unnoticed.
Ben had no idea why her cousin up and went silent all of a sudden…she didn't even know where she was! Gwen was right, what good was this alien if it can't see—what the heck? There was a slight disturbance in the air…
Ben turned her head back to face Gwen. The gill-like slits on the sides of her neck suddenly moved in a manner that resembled those on a fish when they breathed. Only difference, those gills weren't for breathing as Ben found out…in fact, they gave her what seemed to be a thermal image of what looked like Gwen. It puzzled Ben at first, but something told her that if she didn't immediately move out of the way, Gwen would whack her backside with that stick of hers!
Ben jumped out of the way just in time, barely missing Gwen's swing at her. In turn, Gwen ended up falling onto the ground, having put too much force into her swing. Groaning, she looked up and saw her cousin land safely on the roof of the RV.
Using her new sense of sight or rather, smell, Ben was able to see the results of her actions. A satisfied smirk painted her features as she realized that this alien wasn't as useless as her cousin thought it to be. Gwen changed her opinion of the alien Ben was as she got up off the ground.
"Okay, so maybe it's not a total loser," Gwen said.
Ben jumped off the RV and landed right in front of Gwen, earning a rather disgusted reaction from her.
"Eww!" Gwen grimaced as she fanned the air, holding her nose afterwards. "Two words: Breath mints!"
Ben growled at Gwen.
"Hey, my breath doesn't smell that bad!" Ben thought as her remark came out in the form of a few snarls.
Ben brushed her teeth regularly…must be the alien form, but still! Ben snarled and turned her back to Gwen. She used her right hind leg to kick dirt at Gwen's face. Afterwards, Ben jumped away and ran off into the forest, leaving Gwen alone at the campsite.
"Come back here!" yelled Gwen. "Ben! I'm gonna tell Grandpa that you turned into some freaky animal monster thing and went swinging around the forest when he told you not to!"
Whoa, that was one long sentence and in one breath! Gwen sighed and stared at the forest as Ben disappeared from visible view.
"This is a majorly weird day…" Gwen said, shaking her head.
Meanwhile in the forest,
Ben was having the time of her life, swinging from branch to branch. It was so easy in this form and reminded her of a bit of her time in gymnastics. Ben landed on a tree branch after a bit to stop for a moment as she tried to gather her surroundings. She felt something odd in the air, but thought it was just her imagination…that was until her sensors proved that someone was watching her and seemed about ready to attack her!
Ben jumped out of the way in time, barely avoiding a red energy ball shot at her that destroyed the tree she was on. Ben began to swing from branch to branch again, only this time, she had lasers on her case, destroying every tree she was on. She stopped momentarily to look at what she was up against. She was able to get a clear sensory view of it. What was chasing her seemed to be a robot of some sort. Whatever it really was, it definitely meant bad news!
Ben immediately jumped out of the way, barely avoiding another shot aimed at her. The robot stopped and looked around for Ben, who was seemingly out of its sight. In truth, Ben was hanging onto a tree branch behind the robot, watching the machine's every motion carefully. The robot never thought of looking back (thankfully), and went on its way back to searching for its target, which just so happened to be Ben.
Ben climbed up the tree as inconspicuously as she could and after a few well-timed moments, she dove in for the kill and jumped the robot in midair. The robot had its laser out, but Ben was far quicker than it. A misaimed laser ended up destroying a few trees in the process, so Ben tore off the robot's laser using her teeth to literally bite it off.
The robot didn't seem to react to this too well as it began to crash into a couple of trees. Ben kept her grip on the robot, hanging on tightly every time she and the robot crashed into a tree. She managed to rip off the robot's 'head', but at the same time, the watch on the upper-half of her left arm began to beep again and flash red. It was timing out again…that wasn't good for Ben as she was still dealing with a robot.
Luckily for her, Ben and the robot were heading straight into a rock wall from a cliff and for Ben, that was good because she had an idea in mind. She jumped off the robot the second before it crashed into the cliff and exploded. Ben landed safely on the ground and, right at that moment, she returned to her original form. Talk about nice timing…
"Yes!" Ben exclaimed as she brought down her fist.
Ben's moment of victory was cut short as she found out that the robot that was chasing her wasn't exactly alone…it had a friend. And its friend also had a laser…that was aimed at Ben! So much for nice timing…
"Whoa, not good!" exclaimed Ben.
Not good, indeed…however, thanks to a sudden turn of events, the next thing the robot saw in its line of sight was the blade of a shovel, slammed into it with the force of an angry ten year-old. That ten year-old with a shovel just so happened to be Gwen, whom was not quite happy to see her cousin threatened. Ben stared at her cousin, somewhat stunned with what Gwen just did, which was knocking robot onto the ground with a mere shovel. That was hardcore, there!
Gwen scowled at the robot with intense hatred and rage. "Aagh! Back off, Sparky! No flying tree-trimmer is going to hurt my cousin!"
Ben blinked and clenched her teeth as Gwen brought the shovel down with immense force onto the robot. Ben was shocked to see her cousin this intense! Though, deep down, she was actually thankful for that.
"Never thought I'd say this, but am I glad to see you!" said Ben.
The robot burst into flames after that, at which it was a sign for both Ben and Gwen to get out of there. Ben and Gwen ran away from the robot, making their way back to the campsite. The robot exploded sometime after it burst into flames and the two girls were far enough away from it.
A few moments later at the campsite,
Gwen and Ben were breathing hard, having run all the way from the woods to back where they currently were, they were exhausted. The threat of the two robots added a bit of panic to the situation, but the girls managed to calm down. Compared to the whole watch thing, this was rather not as unsettling as it was before. It was becoming desensitizing in general…but only to the surprise, everything else…not so much.
"Grandpa is so going to freak when he finds out…" Gwen said, breaking the silence between the cousins.
Ben just asked, "Where did you get the shovel?"
Gwen resisted the urge to face-palm…after the whole ordeal; her cousin had the gall to ask about something so trivial… Yup, that was definitely Ben…
"Are we really related?" thought Gwen.
According to family ties and such, Ben and Gwen were definitely related by their fathers' side of the family. But of course, her question what a rhetorical one, so that made the answer rather pointless…moving on!
"What's this about a shovel?" asked a voice.
Ben and Gwen froze at the sound of that familiar voice. They slowly turned to see that it was Max, who just came back from the crash site. He did not look pleased…
A few moments later in the RV,
Ben sat down across from Gwen at the dining table, looking down as Max lectured her. Gwen seemed to be enjoying this from the looks of her satisfied smile of her face. She was the one who blabbed about the whole ordeal, much to Ben's annoyance. Ben made a mental note to get back at her one of these days…for now, she had a lecture to listen to.
"I was worried that you might get popular with that thing on your wrist," Max said sternly. "That's why I asked you not to fool around with it, until we know what the heck it is."
"Sorry, Grandpa…" Ben apologized. "But at least I figured out how to make it work!"
Gwen and Max looked at Ben as she began to demonstrate how she managed to work out the watch.
"All you do is press this button," Ben explain as she pressed a button on the watch. "Then, when the ring pops up, just twist it and turn till you see the guy you wanna be, slam it down and bammo! You're one of ten super-cool alien dudes!"
If it helped, she figured this out sometime before she turned into that dog-like alien. Who said she wasn't paying attention when she turned the ring? Pfft, she may not look it, she can be very observant when she wanted to!
"What about staying a super-cool alien dude and not transforming back into plain, ol' pizza face?" asked Gwen.
"I kinda haven't figured that part out, yet," Ben reluctantly admitted.
Ben didn't have to look at Gwen to know that she was enjoying her cousin's failure. Max placed his hand on his chin as he began to think of a useful way to work this out.
"With a device as powerful as that watch clamped on you, my guess is we better help you learn," said Max. "Fast."
Ben stared at her grandfather in awe. She smiled and threw her arms into the air as she happily exclaimed, "All right!"
The sudden sound of static caught everyone's attention and caused Ben's moment of celebration to be short-lived. There goes her happiness…
"Mayday, mayday!" exclaimed the voice from the radio. "Somebody, help us! We're under attack by some sort of—I know you're not gonna believe me, but—robot!"
That was the end of that transmission.
"Sounds just like those things that attacked me!" Ben said, looking at the watch afterwards. "Must be looking for the watch…those people are in trouble because of me!"
Max arched his brow at Ben, somewhat stunned by his granddaughter's sudden show of maturity. Ben stood up from her seat and walked out from behind the dining table.
"I think I can help them…" she said.
Gwen stood up from her seat with a somewhat disgruntled look on her face. Her hands were on the table as she stared at her cousin.
"Uh, you?" remarked Gwen. "What are you gonna do about it, Tennyson?"
Ben frowned, but just looked at the watch on her wrist. An idea popped up in mind as a small smile formed on her lips. It was not a question of what she was going to do about it, but how she was going to. The watch just so happened to be the answer.
Moments later with the forest,
Max, Gwen, and Ben came to a stop somewhere within the forest that was not that far off from the attacked campsite. Ben looked at the watch on her wrist, hearing a rather familiar beeping sound coming from it. The hourglass-shape on the faceplate glowed green, having just finished recharging. Before Ben messed with the watch, she looked at her grandfather to make sure he was okay with it. Max nodded in response and Ben pressed a button on the watch. The faceplate popped up moments afterwards, earning a smile from Ben.
"Yeah!" she exclaimed as she began to turn the ring. "Eeny, meeny, miney…"
Ben stopped turning as she came upon a silhouette of what seemed to look like a strong, formidable alien. Rather then turn the watch's ring again to see what was next, Ben decided to stick with this silhouette, having caught her attention.
"Here goes!" she exclaimed, slamming her hand down on the faceplate.
A green light flashed brightly as Ben began to transform. Aqua-green colored crystalline growths suddenly protruded from under her skin from where the watch was on her wrist. A protective white sheen began to spread over her skin, the crystalline growths soon covering the sheen moments after it appeared. The crystalline growths began to cover Ben's body almost like a second skin to fit her new form. Crystals sprouted from Ben's face as the sheen continued to spread over her face, covering the last of the uncovered skin. Ben blacked out for a moment as her eyes changed from green to a complete golden color with no visible iris or pupils.
Ben had gone through another growth spurt to fit her new form and gained a more rounded body of some sort that was made out of crystal. She had a square head and wore a uniform that was black on the right half and white on the other with the watch's dial with an hourglass-shape on the left side of her breast.
Gwen looked at her cousin's new form. "So what can this guy do?"
Ben held up her hand, taking a good look at her crystal-composed fingers. Every movement she made gave off a small sound that resembled shattering glass. She wasn't sure what the crystal was made of, but she assumed it was diamond. It looked like it to her and she kept getting a weird feeling about it. Whatever it really was, it had to be very durable for this situation!
"I don't know, but I bet it's gonna be really cool!" she said, flexing her fingers.
Her new form also seemed to have gained a more deeper, yet feminine voice than her fire-based alien form had. Interesting…
Meanwhile at the attacked campsite,
People were fleeing about, running away from the destruction caused by combusting trailers. Screams filled the air as a huge laser beam shot at a random trailer, causing it to explode. It was one heck of a shocking scene to come across by. The destruction seemed so…unearthly, which it was since the cause of all this destruction was by a giant red, orange, and black colored robot. It had more shape compared to the robots that attacked Ben and, obviously, was larger.
"Looks like Papa robot, this time," Ben commented.
Gwen and Max looked at Ben, slightly stunned. They were still getting used to her new form's deep voice…and it seemed she had something to say.
"I'll get gear-head's attention, you guys get the campers to safety," said Ben.
It also seemed that along with her voice, Ben might have matured, as a person, to a small extend as well. She appeared to be more…responsible. It was either that, or it was an idea that was created at the spur of the moment and situation. Whatever worked, as Gwen and Max had no problems with Ben's orders.
Meanwhile with the huge and obviously hostile robot,
The park ranger was helping out a young woman who was knocked down onto the ground in all the hysteria the giant robot had caused. Unfortunately for the park ranger, his attempt to help the young woman was interrupted as the robot grabbed him and lifted him off the ground. Ben was not pleased to see an innocent bystander involved in this situation. In fact, she was already quite mad when the whole campsite was involved.
"Leave him alone!" she yelled.
The robot heard her loud and clear, turning its head to see who it was that spoke. Its gaze focused in on Ben.
"You want somebody to pick on?" she remarked. "Try me…"
The robot's attention was locked onto the watch's faceplate on Ben's chest. It had been exactly what the robot had been looking for. Finding no use with the park ranger, the robot released him, dropping the ranger onto the hood of his jeep. The park ranger, though very troubled and disheveled, was all right, possibly unconscious, and Ben was okay with that!
What she wasn't okay with, was getting thrown across air after being shot with a laser. While Ben had been making sure the park ranger was okay, the robot aimed the laser on its right hand at Ben and shot at her…this pretty much sums up everything that had happened before until now.
SMASH!
And this brings everything back to the current events in which Ben just crash landed in a trailer. Not even a few seconds after, the robot fired another laser at Ben, destroying the trailer and causing it to explode with the ten year-old still inside. The owner of that trailer was not going to be happy…assuming the owner cares about the trailer more than their life, but I digress. There are matters more important at stake…like the status of whether or not Ben's still alive!
So far, for the robot, it looked like it had done its job eradicating Ben, but then a sudden crystalline spike emerged from under the debris said otherwise. How Ben managed to survive that attack with just sustaining a minor headache, she had no clue…but the fact that she was encased in crystal in this new form might explain a bit.
Ben looked at her right arm, which she had used to cut through the remains of the trailer she was buried under. Somehow, her arm was now an instant jackknife made out of her own crystalline body…
"Cool," Ben said in awe.
Ben shifted her attention to the robot that was right in front of her, currently making its way closer to her. She stared at the robot for a few moments as her mind quickly processed the discovery of her form's newfound ability. Her eyes glowed yellow seconds after an idea popped up in mind. If she was able to slice her way through trailer debris, then she might be able to do the same with the robot. It wouldn't hurt to try…okay, maybe it would a bit, but she'll worry about that afterwards!
Ben lunged at the robot, swinging her arm at it in an attempt to slice it. The robot avoided the attack by jumping up just above Ben. It used its three legs as a propeller for a few moments before stopping and landing right on top of Ben.
THUD!
Okay, so it did hurt to try…and now Ben was pinned under the robot. Well, crap…
"Uh-oh…I think I'm in trouble…" said Ben.
That was an understatement and Ben knew it…she was screwed. Gwen would most likely point that out in the most blunt and painfully obvious way she could do it in…but not in this situation. Moving over to Gwen, since the subject's changed to her…she was with Max, helping the park ranger off his jeep.
"What is going on here?" asked the park ranger.
Ah, that question just brought up most of the events that had happened to Gwen. It all began when Ben took a walk into the forest…anything before that was now just a blur. Life was definitely not normal anymore for Gwen…she could barely even believe that this was all real. So, in conclusion in trying to get an answer out of that question…
"You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you," Gwen replied.
That pretty much summed it all up.
"Now, come on!" Gwen said, gesturing at the park ranger to follow her.
With that said, Gwen started making her way out of there. She wasn't staying any longer in one place…that was dangerous. Max followed her soon after, leaving the park ranger alone. The park ranger was very much still confused about the turn of events, having just regain consciousness not that long ago. The giant robot was still there, as was the crystalline-bodied stranger that had saved him…and said stranger was heading right towards him!
Ben had been picked up and thrown in a random direction, which happened to be towards the park ranger, moments after the robot got off her. The park ranger ducked, barely avoiding Ben as she crashed into his jeep. By now, the park ranger decided not to stay any longer and got out of there. Ben picked herself up and jumped off the jeep, her gaze focused on the robot.
The robot aimed its laser at Ben and shot at her, but this time…she dodged and the laser destroyed what was left of the damaged jeep. Moments afterwards, Ben began to dodge a barrage of lasers that destroyed a few trees in the process. One of the trees ended up falling down right where Gwen was standing, the expression on her face very much resembling of that of a deer's eyes caught in a headlight. As much as Ben very much disliked her cousin, she didn't go as far to completely hate her enough to wish Gwen were dead…literally.
Gwen stayed frozen as she watched the tree coming at her. She blacked out for a few seconds, soon coming back to it to find her cousin had split the tree in half with her sharp crystalline body. Gwen finally blinked, slightly snapping out of her standstill trance. She stared at her cousin with wide-eyes, still wearing the same expression on her face as the crystals on her cousin's body gleamed.
"So…we even?" asked Ben.
Gwen nodded her head in response, saying, "Even."
Ben felt rather pleased with herself, having just saved her cousin. Suddenly, Ben felt a rather metallic hand grab her from behind. It was that robot again…
"Uh-oh…" she said.
The robot picked Ben up from the ground and began to pull on her left arm moments afterwards. Ben didn't take to well with this and decided to try something. She grunted as she mentally sent out a message to her body, the main focus of her attention on her left arm and getting the robot to let go of it. She was still getting used to controlling her body and most of the things she was able to do just suddenly came to her, as if something was telling her what to do. The same applied to what she was doing.
BAM!
Ben opened her eyes at the sound of an explosion to her left, turning to see that her arm's sharp crystals had destroyed the robot's hand. Those crystals on her arm weren't there before…it was as if they suddenly grew out of her arm…!
"So, it did work…" thought Ben.
Yet another of her new form's abilities discovered! Ben was on a roll! And the robot was possibly ticked at the sight of its missing appendage and the crackling red electricity that was sparking from the exposed fuses on its stump of a hand. The robot looked at Ben and fired its laser, letting her go as the laser sent her into one of the buildings on the campsite. Yup…definitely ticked, Ben angered a robot.
It would've been so cool if it weren't so painful…the landing, that is.
SLAM!
There goes another thing destroyed by Ben's landings, with the help of a rather nefarious robot. All that was left was the burning remains of a building with Ben, once again, buried under debris.
"I'm starting to hate doing this…" Ben thought as she threw off the rubble on her.
Not even a second after getting up, Ben found herself face to face yet again with the robot. She was getting tired of this robot's inability to give up. She shifted her hands into the sharp, makeshift weapons that were like blades…only they were made out of crystal and—
"I really need to find out what type of crystal I'm made out of…" thought Ben.
Diamond kept on popping into her mind and Ben was beginning to accept that maybe she was made out of diamond. Whatever she really was, she could care less as she had a laser heading towards her! Ben held her arms together in front of herself as she attempted to shield herself from the blast.
Ben managed a bit, actually holding back the laser with her crystalline arms. What caught her attention as she continued to hold back the laser, was how her crystalline arms managed to deflect the laser, almost hitting her cousin and grandfather in the process. Luckily, Gwen and Max managed to duck, effectively avoiding the laser. Ben was fully aware by now of another of her new form's abilities…acting as a living prism to refract beams.
Ben was caught slightly off guard by her observation and was pushed back by the laser's force. She landed onto the ground just a few feet away from where she was previously standing. With her current discovery popping up in mind, Ben held up her hand and looked at it. It gleamed and sparkled…she shifted her hands back to their original shape.
"Time to take one for the team!" thought Ben.
Ben got off the ground and ran towards the robot, stopping right in front of it. She pointed at herself, taunting the robot as she said, "C'mon! Put one in here!"
The robot didn't seem to mind that request one bit as it charged up its laser. Gwen and Max overheard Ben and noticed her firm disposition on taking that hit.
"Ben…run!" exclaimed Max.
Ben ignored her grandfather…she knew exactly what she was doing. All she had to do was wait for the right, opportune moment…like now! Ben held out her hands in front of herself, her palms wide open as she blocked the laser with them. This laser was even more forceful than the previous blasts…the robot was giving its all in this attack! Ben grunted as she was pushed back by the force, but she kept her position and just dug her heels into the ground. Her crystalline body seemed to act automatically on its own to this situation by growing crystal spikes on the soles of her feet…acting like cleats.
Whether it was an autonomic response or not, Ben was just glad the spikes were even there to begin with. It kept her in place long enough to take control of the laser's beam, creating a rather bright light. The light attracted the attention of many of the people who were nearby, the hysteria having calmed down due to the presence of the mysterious enigmatic crystalline being that was Ben.
"What comes around, goes around!" Ben exclaimed, shifting her hands a bit, as she began to reflect the beam. "Let's see how you like it, you techno-freak!"
Ben managed to reflect the laser to the side, her control somewhat erratic as it missed the robot completely…at first. It was a learning experience of trial and error on how to effectively reflect a laser beam…and Ben was a rather fast learner! It took her only once to successfully deflect the laser at the robot, destroying the top half of its body. This was payback for hitting her hitting her with lasers and throwing her around! Karma…gotta love it, sometimes!
Ben watched with a satisfied expression on her face as the rest of the robot fell back and exploded. She held up her right hand afterwards, admiring the glittering sparkles her crystalline body created.
"I guess diamonds really are a girl's best friend," commented Ben. (5)
Gwen and Max were rather ecstatic about Ben's victory as they pumped their fists into the air whilst standing on a fallen tree.
"All right!" they both exclaimed.
This caught the attention of the group of people who were nearby.
"Way to go Be—" Max trailed off as he realized that he and Gwen were being watched. "Um…diamond-headed guy!"
Ben was still very much pumped up from her victory when she overheard her grandfather. Diamond-headed guy…
"Diamondhead…" thought Ben.
…
The name seemed to click very well with this form…it had a nice ring to it as well. It was official…Ben was so calling this form, 'Diamondhead'.
"Aw, yeah!" she exclaimed. "Who's bad?"
Ben jumped up into the air and landed on her feet with a somewhat earthshaking thud. There was definitely an awkward silence that ensued after that. Ben quickly noticed that her cousin and grandfather were acting rather strangely, gesturing at him to do something. She just stared blankly at them, realizing what they were trying to tell her when they both face-palmed and shook their heads. She was supposed to have gotten out of there!
Well…this was awkward. Ben cleared her throat and placed her hands on her hips (also somewhat prominent in this form as well).
"Well, I…think my work here is done," Ben said somewhat casually.
DOT DOT DOT…
Ben turned and immediately made her way out of there, though somewhat awkwardly. It was a bit difficult to run in the form, as Ben quickly realized it.
"Note to self for Diamondhead…practice running," thought Ben.
Meanwhile with Max and Gwen,
Max and Gwen carefully walked away from the group of people nearby them.
"Who was that guy?" asked one of the people.
The group noticed Max and Gwen walking away from them, but just shrugged it off. It had been a rather odd and confusing night…what were they to know what was really suspicious or not?
Sometime later in the RV,
Ben was roused from her sleep as she suddenly sneezed, shuddering a bit afterwards. She had a rather eerie feeling that someone was talking about her…but she shrugged it off. She rubbed her nose with her index finger as she stared at the wall with heavy-lidded eyes. She soon closed her eyes and she went back to sleep. (6)
After turning into three aliens, stopping a forest fire, and fighting off robots, Ben was exhausted. She was sleeping on the top bed above Gwen, who slept on the lower bed below Ben. Max slept in the room right next to them. It had been a very busy night…
The next morning,
Gwen and Max were packing up after a somewhat normal breakfast (no mealworms and sheep's tongue normal). Max was outside the RV, placing items, such as a rolled up sleeping bag, in close reach for Gwen to set aside inside the RV. It had only been half an hour and it was oddly quiet…
"Where's Ben?" asked Max.
Gwen was trying to lift up a heavy duffel bag when her grandfather asked the question. "I haven't seen her since breakfast."
The sound of an approaching vehicle of some sort in acceleration could be heard at that moment. It was coming closer and closer up to the point where Gwen and Max could see a cloud of dust in the distance. They could barely make out a figure within the dust to show that it wasn't a vehicle, but what resembled a small, bipedal dinosaur…a semi-armored velociraptor, to be more precise. The velociraptor continued running at a very fast speed that it took only a matter of seconds for it to make it in front of Gwen and Max…the distance to where it previously was had been at least a mile.
The velociraptor slid to a stop right in front of Gwen and Max, giving the two a better view to look over the bipedal dinosaur. It was taller than Gwen, but that was about it as Max still had a good few inches on it. There was a very distinct shape in its slim body, holding a more humanoid resemblance as well as a more feminine figure, suggesting that it was female.
"Ben?" Max said questioningly.
The velociraptor had a black, full-face helmet over her head with a visor covering her face. The visor slid up, revealing a blue face with black lips and a pair of very familiar green-colored eyes.
"Yup!" she replied, the telltale watch with the hourglass-shape on the center of her chest confirming that it was indeed Ben.
Ben's new form was primarily black in color, save for arms, part of her legs, face, and certain striped parts on her tail, which were all blue. Her body from the neck down to the middle of her torso on the front-side was white in color. One of the prominent features on her new body was the helmet she wore, which was actually part of her…it came with the form.
The helmet and visor accentuated the heart-shaped face Ben seemed to have in this form. Along with that, another of the more prominent features Ben had was the black, scissor-like claws and orb-like feet of the same color. Her voice matured slightly, still holding the immature ring to it, only with a more feminine and somewhat fast-paced tone to it.
"Hey!" said Ben. "Check this out!"
The visor slipped over her face again as Ben quickly sped off at a remarkable velocity. Gwen and Max looked at the direction Ben ran towards, only for Ben to have somehow, made it quickly behind the two. She began to load all the luggage Gwen and Max packed up in her absence into the RV. In only a matter of seconds, barely even five, Ben had finished a job that would've taken at least ten to fifteen minutes to finish.
Gwen and Max were baffled at Ben's extreme agility as wherever she dashed; all that could be seen of her at the most, was a black and blue blur. Ben came to a stop in front of the two, her visor sliding up to reveal her face.
"Pretty fast, huh?" she said.
The red flashing light accompanied by the familiar beeping noise caught Ben's attention as she looked at her chest. The watch was timing out again…well, she had her fun. Ben returned to her normal form after the flash of a bright, red light. She stood up and brushed the dirt off her chest.
"I think this is gonna be the best summer ever," said Ben.
Max smiled at his granddaughter, agreeing with her as he said, "Absolutely…a summer of extraterrestrial proportions." (7)
Gwen didn't seem all too happy, but appeared to be more on the neutral side.
"It's definitely going to be interesting," she remarked, looking questioningly at Ben afterwards. "So…where'd you go, anyway?"
"Just had to take care of a couple of things before our vacation really got rolling," Ben replied with a satisfied smile on her face.
Meanwhile elsewhere,
J.T. and Cash had no clue as to how they ended up hanging on a tree branch by the back of their underwear. It definitely reminded them of the wedgie they once gave Jamie a few weeks back, one that Ben had to help him down from. It was very uncomfortable and rather…demeaning.
"Dude…how'd we get up here?" Cash asked as he looked at J.T.
"I'm not sure…" J.T. replied. "It all happened so fast."
Cash held up his hand as he tried to catch the attention of a passing car.
"Hey!" he called out. "Somebody…anybody…little help up here, please!"
It had been at least a full hour before anybody helped the two down.
Back at the RV,
Ben held a pencil in her right hand, tapping the eraser on the sheet of paper that she had set on the table. Gwen looked at her cousin questioningly, wondering what she was up to.
"So, what should I name this one…?" Ben asked Gwen, hoping to get at least a good suggestion from her cousin.
Gwen looked at Ben. "Which one?"
"The super fast alien," replied Ben. "It's super fast…"
Gwen tilted her head to the side in thought before replying, "Accelerate?"
"Accelerate…" Ben repeated slowly as she wrote it down on the paper.
"It means to go faster," explained Gwen.
"I know what it means!" snapped Ben. "I like the name, but there's something about it…"
Ben looked at the word she had written down. She liked the sound of it, but the actual spelling…
"Accelerate…" Ben said slowly, blinking a few times before an idea popped up in mind. "I got it!"
Gwen arched her brow at Ben as she wrote something down on the paper. Once she finished, Ben slid the paper over to Gwen for her to read.
"X-L-R-8?" said Gwen.
Ben smiled as she explained, "It sounds like accelerate, but it's spelled differently."
Gwen blinked, finding it rather witty. "Nice…"
Ben nodded and took the paper back as she listed XLR8 just below Diamondhead on the paper.
"Two down…two more to go," said Ben. "Any ideas for the fire guy?"
Gwen thought for a moment.
"Hmm…Heatblast?" she suggested.
"Heatblast…" Ben repeated, liking the name. "Okay, that just leaves the dog-beast alien."
"Well, it doesn't resemble any type of dog I know…looks like a mutt," said Gwen. "And you were rather wild in that form…"
Max found himself smiling widely as he kept his eyes on the road. It had been only an hour and the girls have not once fought yet. In fact, they seemed to have been bonding right now… He decided to keep quiet, finding this moment rather precious to say anything that might disrupt it. It was not like his granddaughters got along every day, or anything…
"Maybe I did do the right thing in convincing Lili to bring Gwen along…" thought Max.
A/N End of chapter and holy crap! *dodges stuff thrown by angry readers* Okay, I know I should be working on Secret or Misconception, but this was calling me! DX And I was on Fusion Fall and Ben is my guide…you do the math. Yeah…there are not as many notes in this story, but only because I didn't want to put too many of those numbers here, unless I was giving credit or making a relevant reference. Speaking of which, let's put in the notes!
(1) The only change in Ben's name is middle name, which is Katherine…why Katherine? I just finished watching theRadBrad's walkthrough of the game Catherine…one of the characters he stuck with for the whole walkthrough and ended up with the True Ending with was Katherine-K. Why do I call her Katherine-K? There are two women in the game that share the same name with a different spelling in just one letter at the beginning of their name, which is Katherine and Catherine…yeah. Also, Ben's middle name is Kirby, so Katherine suited that since it started with a K…yup!
(2) Very much my explanation as to why Ben's name is the same, despite her female gender. Another reason for it is that I couldn't find any names to fit Ben and even if I did, I find it very difficult to change Ben's first name. Middle name wasn't much of a problem for me, though!
(3) I've noticed how athletic Ben could be and Gwen always struck me as having been in gymnastics. I just added Ben into the mix because, hey! There's an explanation as to how Ben could easily pull off some moves in her regular form…yeah. DON'T FLAME ME FOR THAT! DX
(4) Hestic gave me the suggestion for that and from that, a new idea was formed…so, you'll be seeing a singing Heatblast every once in a while…why? Ever wonder why Fiery Buddy rapped? There's your answer…
(5) Hestic, once again, gave me the quote…I just adjusted it a bit. Original quote: "Diamonds are a girl's best friend."
(6) If you're wondering why I have yet to bring up Vilgax...that's because I'm keeping him separate from this story until the time comes when Ben FINALLY begins to encounter him. Why? Just because...plus, if you're wondering about this reference, this should be around the time Vilgax gets the memo that his robots were destroyed. There's a little thing with, if you sneeze, someone might be talking about you. Got it off Ojamajo Doremi, its second season #, and its third season Motto...Motto was more of an influence for this reference...it's a good anime, shut up! DX
(7) Again, Hestic…yeah, she be my buddy! :D
So yeah…this is the start of new story and another genderbend fic…let's see how I'll do with this one! :D If I can do what I did with my GX fic, I can certainly do the same with this one…just give me a chance, if you will?
So, here's the drill! Flames are NOT welcomed under any circumstances…I rather take constructive criticism, thank you very much! I find it most helpful, even if the reviewer didn't like the story, at least I'll get a reason why. That's all I want…if you hate it, tell em why, don't just say it…I will block you if you do so and that is a policy I will start now. Flame me without reason, block for a month, depending on my mood. If you have anything against genderbends and such…hey, I gave you a warning at the start of the fic!
You say that in your review, I will block you for a week because I warned you and if you didn't read my A/Ns…yet another reason for a block. I have nothing against you, it's just…rather frustrating to know that people never read A/Ns I typed up so painstakingly most of the times, only for them to get ignored until I point it out…
If you've read chapter 20 of Secret or Misconception, the chapter which was ALMOST 50 FRICKEN' PAGES…:C (Never gonna let it go…) You'll see why I don't take to getting my A/Ns ignored…I did sort of spend an hour or two writing the A/N at the end of the chapter…So yeah! Aside from that, review if you wish, favorite if you like this story, alert it or subscribe, whatever!
Just drop by and give a word to show me that you've read, okay? I like to hear people's opinions sometimes…makes me more open to ideas and such. So, till next time, KD out! XD
