Welcome to the second chapter of Child of the Omnitrix! Previously, Big Chill had laid eggs that hatched into baby Necrofriggians. Although thirteen of them flew up into space and are now out of the question, the same can't be said for the fourteenth hatchling. For some unknown reason, it didn't fly after them like it was expected to. Ben just transformed back into his normal human self, and noticed the little alien sitting beside him. Kevin, Gwen, and Julie now have some explaining to do for him...

Chapter 2

"The Decision"

Kevin, Gwen, and Julie explained the whole situation to Ben since he had no memory of what he had just previously done as Big Chill. No memory of his rampage, building a nest didn't ring a bell, and he didn't remember laying eggs. Ben seated himself on a nearby rock, listening to everything. He was utterly dumbfounded by what they told him. Also, in order to better prove to Ben that what they were telling him was in fact completely true, Kevin used some form of portable device to show him a recording of the other Necrofriggian children, that had flown away earlier.

"Yep, those are your kids," said Kevin, showing Ben the recording. "They all flew up into space, but for some reason, the little runt didn't follow them."

Ben swung his head behind him and looked at the runt, who in turn looked back at him. It fluttered its wings rapidly, chirping joyfully when Ben looked at it. The little runt was still sitting on the ground a foot or so from Ben.

"So that's actually one of my children?!" exclaimed Ben, standing up as he threw his arms in the air. "I can't believe this! Just... How?!"

Kevin looked down at the device in his hand, searching something up on Necrofriggians to help answer Ben's question.

"It says here that Necrofriggians, that's Big Chill's species, only lays eggs once every eighty years or so," explained Kevin, reading what he saw being displayed on the screen. "The babies fly off into space and feed on solar plasma. It also says that Necrofriggians aren't supposed to rely on their parent after hatching. However, it says that there are rare circumstances where a hatchling won't fly away from the parent. When this happens, the parent abandons the hatchling anyway, and the baby will usually die within twenty-four hours... ouch."

"That's, sorta harsh..." said Gwen, a bit disturbed by the sound of that situation.

"Yeah, good thing Ben here isn't all bug and no boy..." joked Kevin, grinning at Ben. "Mommy."

"Will you shut up?!" shouted Ben angrily. "You're not helping!"

"Give it a rest, Kevin." snapped Gwen, looking at him angrily with a raised eyebrow, her arms crossed over her chest.

"C'mon, you gotta admit this is pretty funny," said Kevin smiling. "Ben just had alien babies!"

"This is a lot for Ben to take in," remarked Julie. "Teasing him about it isn't going to be any help."

"Okay okay, fine," said Kevin, rolling his eyes. "So maybe it's sort of serious."

"Ugh, this is the most embarrassing thing ever!" cried Ben, sitting back down on the rock, resting his head on his palms as he slumped a little.

"I think you made a great mommy," complimented Julie, trying to comfort him with a smile.

Ben gave her a small smile back, feeling a little better hearing that from her. But it wasn't changing the fact that he was still trying to comprehend the fact that he had just technically become a father of fourteen and to top it off, one of his own children was right beside him. He tried to look on the bright side; at least the other thirteen didn't rely on him for anything, they just flew away.

However, Ben was still itching with tension. He had an unfortunate feeling inside that he would have to, for whatever reason, parent the remaining hatchling that didn't leave. He was hoping, no, praying that he was wrong, but he had a strong notion that he was indeed correct. He finally found the courage to discover if he was right for himself;

"Well, what are we supposed to do with the baby, uh... Necro-whatchamacallits?" asked Ben, pointing down at the hatchling behind him with his thumb.

Gwen, Kevin, and Julie all exchanged looks. They were all thinking the same thing, debating on which one of them would break the word to him.

"You guys..?" asked Julie.

"Kevin, you tell him," said Gwen.

"No, you tell him," objected Kevin.

"Kevin," said Gwen firmly, glaring right at him.

Kevin wasn't the one to wanted to try and argue with Gwen, as she was a powerful Anodite alien after all. So he quickly gave in and let out a sigh of defeat.

"I would say that I'm telling you this, just because I think it'd be hilarious to see you parenting an alien," began Kevin, cracking a brief smirk. "But in all honesty, you actually.. probably.. should consider adopting it. It's your kid dude."

"WHAT?" exclaimed Ben in disbelief, putting both hands on his head. He might have predicted that reply, but to have someone say it aloud made it just that much more earthshaking.

"Ben, I know this is a lot for you," said Gwen in a slightly quieter voice. "But I noticed that the little guy had a really hard time flying compared to its siblings like it was struggling just to keep itself in the air. I think that there might be something wrong with it."

"It was more like an alien chicken..." joked Kevin to himself.

Gwen normally scolded Kevin for joking about something horrible like that, but this time she decided to ignore him and let it go. With this most strange and awkward situation, Kevin was making stupid jokes practically every five seconds, and there was no way Gwen would be able to scold him every single time.

"Any clue as to why it can't fly?" asked Ben, now sitting upright, his arms laying on his legs.

"I'm not sure..." said Gwen, observing the alien baby from a distance.

It was laying behind the rock Ben was seated on, only its head and arms visible, so it was hard to tell what the issue was without getting closer.

"What'll happen if I don't want to adopt it?" cried Ben. "I already have to deal with school and the responsibilities I have as a hero, I'm not sure if I could pull off such a juggling act!"

Gwen walked over and kneeled down beside Ben, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure we can get the hatchling to some kind of orphanage if you can't take care of it," said Gwen, trying to comfort Ben. "We could probably get in contact with a Plumber and find out where we can take it. This your choice Ben, and we'll help you any way we can."

"Wait, we will?" said Kevin baffled. "I wasn't informed on this."

"Yes Kevin, we WILL," shot Gwen somewhat scathingly.

Ben sat there quietly, thinking deeply of what his decision would be. There were so many things to consider, and Ben was not the kind of guy who thought very long and hard about things. He was more of the "act now, ask questions later" type of person.

"It'd be so much work looking after a child, even worse, an alien child..." thought Ben to himself. "Also, I don't think I can handle Kevin teasing me forever about being a 'mother', he's gonna make me yank all my hair out!"

Ben turned behind him to see the little Necrofriggian laying belly-up behind the rock he was seated on, looking him right in the face. It started fluttering its wings joyfully, however, their movement was somewhat hindered since they were flat on the ground, kicking up a little bit of sand. He lowered his right hand down to it, and the little alien held it closer to its body. It started to nibble his index finger in affection, purring happily.

"Okay, that's really cute." thought Ben, unable to control the smile growing across his face. "Not like I'm ever going to admit that aloud though."

Ben felt oddly maternal looking at the tiny alien. It was like he had the urge to protect smaller, weaker creature that was unable to defend itself. He may no longer be Big Chill, but he still felt a parenting instinct from deep within himself.

Ben had made his decision as he gently pulled his hand out of the Necrofriggian's grasp, much to the little alien's disappointment.

"Okay, I've decided," said Ben confidently, certain of his decision. "I'll look after the hatchling."

"Wow," said Kevin, highly surprised. "Didn't see that one coming."

"Ben, are you really sure about this?" asked Julie, walking up closer to him.

"I'm sure, Julie," answered Ben, as he then explained his stance; "If I can take Vilgax head-on, I think I can raise a Necro..whatchamacallits?"

"Necrofriggian." replied Kevin with a facepalm. "If you don't even know what the heck your kid is called, I'm already concerned."

Gwen was really starting to get tired of the amount of Kevin's crap Ben was taking. She stood up and walked over to him, just to jab him the left arm with her elbow.

"Ow! C'mon, that hurt!" complained Kevin.

"Ben, this is really serious," said Gwen, turning to Ben. "Once you make a decision to be a parent, there's pretty much no turning back. Are you absolutely sure? I'm worried that you aren't thinking hard enough about this."

"Don't worry Gwen, I've got this," said Ben with confidence, pointing to himself with a smile. "Besides, I've got you guys, right?"

"Of course!" said Julie in support, smiling at him. "We can help however we're able to."

"Congrats Ben, you're a mother now," joked Kevin, still shocked that Ben had actually decided to father an alien.

"Something I'm still curious about though," said Gwen, her hand to her chin. "Why can't it fly?"

"Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that its wing looks sorta weird?" noticed Kevin, pointing at the Necrofriggian.

They all followed Kevin's finger to what he was pointing at...

Yep, cliffhanger! Also, the little Necrofriggian is bound to be given a proper name soon, so you might also wanna leave a follow if you're interested in that! Thanks so much for reading to the end of this chapter, have a good day!