Ben walked with some haste, until he saw Ester walking around eating ice cream nonchalantly. "Uh, hey, guess you're fine?" Ben stumbled around. He really had avoided talking to her since they got on the ship, especially since he was still trying to write her running off with Antonio as a bad dream. "Why wouldn't I be?" Ester queried.
"We got attacked by Incurseans!?" Ben responded, miffed by her lack of information. "Oh, is that what those bumps were? This is a much smoother ride than the first time I was in space. What did little miss frog princess want?" Ester asked. "Nothing, she wasn't involved, strangely enough. Wait, what do you mean by the first time you were in space? Isn't THIS the first time?" Ben asked. "How do you think I got to Earth? Aliens weren't exactly commonplace until six years ago on Earth Ben, and I'm 14 years old, so how do you think I got there?" Ester asked. "Wasn't your mother human?" Ben was trying to comprehend what this meant. "She lived on the Kraaho home world with my father." Ester replied. Ben started searching for a subject change, as he had learned that Ester got moody if she was allowed to talk about her father.
"Let's sit down." Ben suggested, taking her out of the hallway and into his room. "How very forward of you Ben." Ester said jokingly. Ben blushed, realizing what Ester was implying. This also reminded him of the fact that he had been dodging her calls for a while, for fear of taking the relationship to the "next level". Both of them sitting on the edge of his bed, Ben started with, "Next time we have any problems, head to the bridge, okay?" "Okay." Ester said snuggling her head against his arm. "We're in space now, so we have to stick together, or we could lose someone in space forever." Ester's warmth on his arm was very comforting. They simply sat there that way for a while, then, without moving, Ester began to speak.
"So, I know that you marry Kai in the future, but is there any proof that you don't marry anyone else?" Ben was surprised by this question, he had never considered this. "Um...I never was told about it, I suppose it's possible..." Ben mused. "So you might have multiple wives?" Ester piped up. "Wha? You mean at the same time?" Ben stammered, floored by the idea that the most possessive of his girlfriends was suggesting that in the future he might have multiple wives. "I'm going to guess the thought never even occurred to you," Ester giggled. "I normally wouldn't accept that kind of situation, but you and I are both kinda prominent figures, plus, considering how Attea and Looma fought over you last time, it may be a good idea diplomatically." Ben could not refute that fact.
"Thank goodness I don't have to marry either of them, right?" Ben joked. "Let's just say that princess Looma wasn't about to win any beauty contests, that's for sure." Ester giggled. "I don't know, Kevin seemed to think she used to be cute, so she must've been at some point, unless his idea of cute is very different." Ben joked. Pausing, Ben then asked, "Do you know why he isn't here?" Ester quickly responded with a "Nope."
Once more, he noticed how warm she was. Ester suddenly reached for his omnitrix and began to examine his list of alien forms. "You know, I actually know less about what aliens you can become than most people, my favorite form is you after all." Ester commented. "I remember I thought you liked Ditto, it is my cutest form according to the polls." Ben stated. "Was" Ester corrected. "Huh?" Ben's confusion was evident on his face. "It WAS your cutest form, until Pesky Dust, whatever that is." Ester explained. "And you know this how?" Ben asked, surprised at this information. "It was a news clip." Ester responded. "Well, I can't say they're wrong, he is pretty cute, but also useful." Ester's eye raised at this statement.
"He allows me to put people to sleep, create whatever kind of dream I want them to have, and be able to enter other people's dreams as well." Ben explained. At the mention of the last one Ester tensed up. "Not that any of those are useful without the others." Ben continued on, not noticing. Ester couldn't help but smile as she realized Ben did not see the alien's applications outside of battle and interrogation. "So which one is he?" Ester asked, curious to see this cute, yet surprisingly powerful creature. Ben spun the dial until he reached the appropriate symbol, and keeping in mind Azmuth's comment about dexterity and not slamming it down, Ben transformed into the right alien for once. Ester's eyes widened, "Wait, so Lillimusha can enter dreams?" She asked. "Who?" Ben asked. "Lillimusha Diforestini, he lives in Undertown. I'm not sure what he does, but ML-E knows him for some reason." Ester replied.
"A Nemuina in Undertown... I know nothing about them, but Khyber was terrified of just one." Ben said shifting himself back to a human. "So you can choose any alien represented by an icon?" Ester verified. "If it's there, I should be able to turn into it in theory, but it doesn't always work, Azmuth blames me though, because I slam it down. I swear you to secrecy on that though, okay?" Ben told her. Ester laughed saying, "I promise I won't tell anyone."
"I won't tell anyone what?" came the voice of Gwen. "That Ben used Alien X to..." "Give you freckles." Ben completed. "Right..." Gwen acknowledged with a tone of disbelief. "Anyway, time to interrogate the prisoner." Gwen said nonchalantly. "Prisoner?" Ester questioned. "A rather unusual Incursean. You'll see what we mean."
The three of them walked in on Rook saying, "I have no desire to find out if that is possible." Switching to conversing with Ben, Rook stated "I have been attempting to coerce information out of him as to why he attacked our ship, but to no avail. I cannot even get his name from him. It seems to me that we may have been attacked solely because we are a plumber ship."
"Sorry Rook, but you're wrong, he attacked because I was onboard, isn't that right, Barga?" Ben said walking up to his cell. "How did you..?" Rook began to ask, but was stopped by Gwen. "So who issued this 'royal decree'? Was it Attea, or Raff who gave such an order?"
"I do not pretend to know the politics of the Incursean empire, I seek only to serve it well." Barga replied. "And therein lies your problem." Ben said. Barga gave Ben a puzzled look, but said nothing. "Come on Rook, he's too stupid to know anything." Ben stated, walking out of the room, into the hall. Gwen and Ester looked at each other confused at Ben's behavior. Rook quickly exited after Ben.
"What is this 'Royal Decree' you spoke of?" Rook questioned. "Before we were attacked by any Incurseans on the ship, I overheard their orders. They were told to capture us alive, that is me and any partners I might have. Pretty weird order for Incurseans to be given, unless the targets are also Incursean." Ben informed Rook. "Later when I fought Barga, he mentioned a royal decree that he would somehow complete if he beat me. Seemed like it might be connected, so I asked him. Turns out I was right. So next time we have a run-in with Incurseans we know what to look for."
Rook's mouth stood agape as Ben analyzed the situation. "That's good to know," Gwen's voice appeared shortly followed by her and Ester coming out of the doorway's shadowy indent. Rook and Ben had both jumped at the sound of her voice, assuming positions of abject terror." Seeing their reactions, Gwen and Ester burst into laughter, especially Ester, who was noticeably louder. After the laughter finally subsided, Ben asked, "Can we go now?"
"Where?" Gwen asked. "Mr. Smoothy's, duh." Ben replied. "Uh Ben, hate to break it to you, but we're in space." Gwen stated putting her hand on Ben's shoulder as she silently marvelled at the oversight on Ben's part. "Ester, you coming with me?" Ben asked, ignoring his cousin's statement. "Sure." Ester replied walking down the hall with Ben. Gwen looked at Rook and asked, "Are we sure Mr. Smoothy's isn't code for something else?" Rook shook his head, saying "I do not know of any code involving Mr. Smoothy's. I assume that Ben is simply addled." "Well you're not wrong there." Gwen replied, then decided to walk off in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, Ben and Ester walked toward the recreation room, where the kitchen and a television with Ben's favorite gaming console were. "Sounds like they haven't been to the REC room yet." Ben commented. "Right?" Ester replied. "Boy are they in for a surprise." Ben chuckled. As the two of them walked into the recreation room, Ben's eyes immediately began to search for the door, which he found with ease and walked through it. "Thank you Blukic and Driba, for making another entrance to the 23rd Mr. Smoothy's!" Ben said happily.
"23rd?" Ester questioned. "Yeah, Blukic, Driba, and me went on a quest to find the 23rd Mr. Smoothy's, because I only knew if 22 locations, turns out it was a dimension hopping Mr. Smoothy's that was supposed to be a multidimensional Mr. Smoothy's." "What does that mean?" Ester asked for clarification. "It means…" Ben paused, seeing another version of himself. Looking at the other Ben's wrist he knew instantly which Ben it was. " …it means THIS can happen!" Ben presented his alternate self. "What?" the alternate Ben said as he turned around. "Ben? Is that you? The you you I mean, not the you." the alternate Ben tried to clarify. "Yup, it's me. Oh, this is Ester by the way, she's my..." "Girlfriend." Ester completed.
About this time, Ester gave this Ben a closer look. He was almost identical to Ben physically, but wore no Ben 10 memorabilia. Finally, she looked at his wrist, looking to see the omnitrix he wore, but there was none. "No, I don't have an omnitrix, but I know how to use one." He said, interrupting her thoughts. " I'm a plumber now! How cool is that? Their combat training is intense! Incidentally, what's the deal with this Mr. Smoothy's?" The alternate Ben asked.
"Multidimensional Mr. Smoothy's, don't worry, you'll end up in your dimension when you leave." Ben said offhandly. "What flavor did you get?" He asked. "Grape." Ben gulped as he was informed by his counterpart. "And how's it taste?" Ben's asked, fearing the answer. "Delicious as always." the alternate Ben said shortly before slurping the final remains of his smoothie. "Guess I might see you around, huh? Well, I guess I'll see you if I see you." "Yeah, this is the only Mr. Smoothy's I can go to right now, so probably so. See ya!" Ben said as he hurried to order a grape smoothie. "So how much weirder does your life get than you let on?" Ester inquired, a grin on her face. She finally was his girlfriend, not just a girl friend.
"Have you met Professor Paradox?"
