Welcome to the third chapter of Child of the Omnitrix! Last time, Ben Tennyson had made the decision to parent one of his Necrofriggian children who were unable to fly away with its thirteen siblings, as it was expected to. The question was however, why exactly couldn't it fly away? You're going to have to find out for yourself...
Chapter 3
"Flightless Forch"
Everyone turned to look at the little Necrofriggian, following Kevin's finger. They saw it hopping around, chirping and flapping its wings. It wanted to fly over onto Ben's shoulder, so it nuzzle him and hope to get attention.
As it was fluttering its wings, it kicked up dirt as it tried to make a liftoff. Sometimes it would be able to leap into the air and fly for several seconds, but in the end it would always plummet into the ground each time uncontrollably, again and again. To make matters worse, there were small rocks scattered on the ground, which cut and scraped the tiny alien's delicate skin. Eventually, the Necrofriggian gave up and laid there, its wings drooping weakly on the ground. It began to chirp sadly, sounding almost as if it was about to cry.
"Wow" said Kevin with a small chuckle. "That's pathetic."
"KEVIN." spat Gwen angrily, her hands on her hips, unable to stand him picking on a weakling.
"I gotta side with Gwen on this one," said Ben, feeling pity for the poor alien's failure. "That's just wrong, Kevin."
"Whoa, since when did you become a second Gwen?" joked Kevin.
Gwen gazed at the little alien in thought, her hand on her chin. She observed the Necrofriggian's wings as it tried to get up, hoping to spot why it was unable to fly. Suddenly, it hit her.
She walked over without saying a word, and leaned down to the slightly injured alien. Then, she gently pinned the Necrofriggian against the ground with her hand, and pinched its left wing so she could better examine it. She carefully stretched it, and her eyes widened in shock, it was mind-boggling and dumbfounding what she saw.
Kevin, Julie, and Ben just watched her quite baffled. They didn't really understand what she was doing.
"Kevin.." said Gwen, looking back behind her. "Its wing doesn't just look 'weird'.. I guess you could say, it's defective."
"You're kidding." said Kevin, approaching Gwen.
"How? I wasn't able to notice anything?" asked Julie, running over to Gwen.
The little Necrofriggian laid on its right side in an anxious ball, purring in distress. It felt uneasy being restrained against the ground by Gwen. It tried to slip its wing out of her fingers, but Gwen effortlessly held onto it.
Ben, Kevin, and Julie were all now keeled around Gwen, gazing down at the tiny alien in interest. They all instantly noticed the issue when they approached, even before Gwen could explain it.
"Holy crap.." said Kevin, quite surprised. "That's a first."
"Its wing..!" said Ben, who was also quite surprised.
The Necrofriggian's lower left part of its wing was somehow missing completely. Without just that one part of its wing, it made the little alien unstable and unbalanced in the air, making it almost impossible to fly.
"It's exactly why it couldn't leave." explained Gwen, certain of her prediction. "Without even that one piece of its wing, it can't fly at all."
Gwen gently removed her pinch on its wing, and the Necrofriggian pulled its wing back itself away from her. It rolled onto its belly, free from its restrainment on the ground. It was still cowering fearfully though, since it was afraid of being surrounded by everyone. It was confused and didn't understand what was going on.
Seeing Ben's face above it did give it reassurance however, and it tried to remain calm, trusting that its parent knew what was best for its wellbeing.
"I actually feel pretty bad for it, not gonna lie." said Ben.
"That's a good thing," said Julie, smiling at Ben. "It means you're a concerned parent!"
"Aw, hear that Ben?" teased Kevin. "What a good mommy you'll make."
"Dammit Kevin, stop it!" said Ben angrily with embarrassment, glaring at Kevin.
"Guys, c'mon." said Gwen. "Break it up."
"Fine, fine..." moaned Kevin.
Kevin, Gwen, and Julie stood up and took several steps back, to give the frightened alien some room.
Ben gently picked up the small alien off the ground, and stood up. It sat upright on his right arm, and started to nuzzle into his chest, purring affectionately. He thought that the behavior was pretty cute, but he was still sensitive about Kevin teasing him, so he tried not to look like he was enjoying it.
"Aww!" said Julie, adoring the irresistible creature. "It really likes you!"
"I guess so." said Ben, unable to control the smile growing across his face, as he looked down at the cute alien snuggling into his chest. "But Gwen, why exactly is its wing messed up like that?"
"Well, maybe the lower left of its wing snapped off inside the egg. Probably when someone punched right into the nest." explained Gwen, glaring directly at Kevin, clearly giving the impression that she was blaming him for the incident.
"Hey, c'mon Gwen!" protested Kevin, defending himself. "How else am I supposed to react to a giant metal dome, built by a rampaging alien that was taking control of Ben?"
Julie approached Ben and observed the Necrofriggian in his arms, specifically she observed its left wing. The little alien looked at her baffled, unsure what she was doing.
"Hmm, I'm not so sure Gwen..." said Julie, butting in to make her stance. "Look at where the lower left part is missing."
Gwen walked over and leaned closer to the little alien in Ben's arms to see what point Julie was trying to make. It in turn gazed at Gwen back a bit perplexed, wondering why she was also observing it so closely. It obviously didn't understand what was happening.
"I'm not seeing any sign of it being an injury," explained Julie, gently pinching its wing like Gwen had done previously. "I'm no expert on aliens, but it looks like it never even existed, almost like it never developed inside the egg. There's no signs of a wound, bleeding.. nothing like that."
"That's so bizarre..." said Gwen in awe, leaning away from the Necrofriggian. "I think you might be right."
"See?" said Kevin in an effort to redeem himself. "Not everything is my fault."
"I'm not sure if we'll ever figure out the reason behind its damaged wing..." assumed Gwen.
"So like, do I need to name it or something?" asked Ben, butting in.
"No Ben," replied Kevin sarcastically. "You're just supposed to call it 'Necrofriggian' forever."
"Okay.." said Ben a bit apathetically. "That's a yes."
"Just don't give it a name as stupid as your Omnitrix alien's names." teased Kevin, smiling. "This Necrofriggian will likely have whatever weird name you give it for the rest of its life."
"Oh ha ha." said Ben sarcastically, looking at Kevin angrily.
Kevin just grinned with a snicker. Gwen crossed her arms and glared at him in frustration, shaking her head. She was really getting ticked at him. However, Kevin didn't notice or acknowledge that she was angry.
Ben looked down at the tiny, purring Necrofriggian laying against his chest in thought, trying to think of a name for it.
"What do I call it...?" thought Ben. "It doesn't even have a gender, gender-neutral names sound hard to think of..."
Ben was always able to name his alien transformations almost instantly after transforming into them for the first time, but Kevin did however just make a good point. They weren't quite the best names, they didn't usually have much thought put into them, and he had to admit they were kinda cheesy and weird. He needed to think of something that would really fit his little alien child... but what?
Suddenly, it came to him almost as fast as XLR8 could run. Ben had decided on a name.
"How about.." smiled Ben. "Forch?"
Everyone just stared at him blankly in confusion for several seconds.
"Wait..Forch?" laughed Kevin with a facepalm. "Dude, that's so cheesy! I said pick a good name, not the total opposite!"
"Kevin!" scolded Gwen, turning to him.
"C'mon Gwen, that name is terrible." said Kevin in his defense. "Okay, I admit, it sounds a little more interesting than the names Ben gives his aliens. But still, c'mon, Forch? Pretty sure that doesn't even have some sort of logical meaning."
Gwen just crossed her arms at Kevin, shaking her head in disappointment of how immature he was acting. Gwen and Julie were indeed both pretty baffled like Kevin by the name, but they were much more polite about it than he was.
"Yeah it does!" retorted Ben.
"So.. why do you want to name it Forch then?" asked Julie perplexed, raising her eyebrows.
"Well..." said Ben still smiling as he explained; "It's a combination of frozen and scorch, since Kevin said before that Necro.. uh.. whatchamacallits live on a planet that's hot and cold!"
Everyone just stared at Ben, still confused yet somewhat impressed.
"Wow.." admitted Kevin. "As stupid as that name sounds, that's actually got some kind of logic. Kudos to you."
"Gee, thanks. I think..." replied Ben with apathetic sarcasm.
"Forch it is I suppose." shrugged Gwen.
"It does roll off the tongue well." supported Julie, smiling at Ben.
Suddenly, Forch's wings successfully folded into a cloak for the first time. It looked just like Big Chill's, only smaller. However, Forch's left leg wasn't covered when it cloaked itself, because of the bottom left of Forch's wing missing.
"Guess not being flightless isn't the only downside with an incomplete wing." Gwen pointed out.
"Aww, it's like a tiny poncho!" said Julie adoringly.
"Hey, good job!" said Ben, praising Forch for cloaking itself.
Forch started happily purring like a little alien space cat, snuggling into Ben's chest again affectionately.
"What a great mommy you are!" laughed Kevin teasingly.
Ben didn't pay attention and acknowledge Kevin, since he was too distracted from enjoying the affection Forch was giving him.
Julie suddenly ran over to her moped, and put on a pink helmet. She briefly looked down at her watch.
Ben watched Julie when she ran over, curious about what she was doing.
"If you want a ride home, you'd better hop on." said Julie, looking at Ben. "My curfew was half an hour ago."
Ben walked over to Julie and temporarily handed her Forch while he seated himself behind her on the moped, and put on a gray helmet. Once he was on, Julie handed Forch back to Ben, and he sat Forch in his lap, the little Necrofriggian still covering itself with its folded wings.
He held onto Julie's waist to help him stay upright while she would ride. Once they were both seated, Julie started the engine, and they zoomed away, Forch remaining in Ben's lap the whole trip home.
Unfortunately, there was something very important Ben hadn't thought about while he was driven home. His parents didn't know about his Omnitrix yet, and certainly didn't know that he was now parenting an alien baby. And chances are, they would not take well to that news.
There you go, meet Forch Tennyson! Forch can't fly, which will certainly separate it from other Necrofriggians. Next time, Ben will have to figure out how to get Forch inside his room without his parents finding out. I hope that these chapters are okay with good grammar and stuff, I don't really know if people are liking them or what. This story does have 200+ views now, so I guess it's getting somewhere.
Also, in case you didn't know, I have already about 1/4 of the entire Child of the Omnitrix story written out in advance on Open Office, all it needs is proper editing. That helps me get the story out faster for you guys. A little fun fact, although the Necrofriggian's name is Forch, the first name I tried using was Anti-Matter during the earliest stages of writing this story! However, I decided that Forch sounded better and made more sense, while still seeming like something Ben would use as a name, haha.
