November 23, 2008

Bellwood High's Gymnasium; 9:50 am

"Where is he!?" Gwen screamed internally. She had been pacing back and forth for the last half hour. She tried to tell herself that he wasn't going to come, but he had promised, and that kept her glued to the entrance of the gym. Every time the doors would open, she'd hold her breath, and when she saw it wasn't who she hoped she'd feel more defeated than before. She was ready to give up on the entire tournament if it wasn't for the fact that her Sensai was counting on her. It was almost time for the opening announcement when she finally saw a familiar face walk in. "Grandpa!" She screamed happily until she saw he was alone. "Where's Ben?"

"Carl had said that he had already left," Max said very plainly. "I'm sure he just got sidetracked." He did his best to hide his own concern but refused to allow that to distract his granddaughter. He had offered to give Ben a ride, but the boy refused.

Before Gwen could try and protest, her Sensai called her over so they could start the tournament. They quickly went over the rules and declared the pairs. Given that it was a small tournament of local karate schools and some of the neighboring cities, there would be two sparring matches going at once with sixteen matches total. Gwen would be in the second round of matches, so she tried to get her nerves under control.

She threw the thought of her doofus cousin out of her head and only focused on her breathing. Soon everything got quiet as she could only hear her own breath and heartbeat. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the first two matches had ended and her Sensai was trying to get her attention. She calmly walked to the sets of mats that would be her arena and focused on her opponent. He was a Hispanic boy a little taller than herself. They both bowed before entering their fighting stances. The two-minute timer went off, and he instantly went for a series of kicks.

After she returned from her suspension, Mr. Saito informed her that it was very common for competitors to rely on kicks since they were worth more points. Gwen knew that kicks were her own strong suit when fighting, so they worked heavily on strikes and counters. It would have been a grueling experience completely relearning how to fight in only two months, but with her mana skin, it was as if she had been doing these techniques for years.

Before she realized it, she had won her match 8:0 before even hitting the halfway mark. The other two competitors were stunned, staring at her before remembering their own match was still going on. She removed her headgear and shook the Hispanic boy's hand as a sign of good sportsmanship before going over to where her Sensai was standing.

"You didn't have to go that hard on the first round, Gwendolyn." Mr. Saito gave her a sideways glance. She wasn't listening to him and was staring up at where her family was sitting, looking a little upset. In yesterday's class, she was very excited to show off to her cousin. If the empty seat next to her grandfather is anything to go off of, she must have been venting her frustration on her opponent. He wasn't even sure if she was aware of it either. "Maybe signing up a veteran fighter for a children's tournament was a bad idea."


About three miles away, a giant bug was flying over a police chase. The Bellwood City Bank had been robbed, and it just happened to happen the one day Ben hoped for nothing would happen. With Gwen and Grandpa Max at the tournament, he had to make a judgment call and go after the robbers himself. Landing onto the getaway car, he tore through the roof with Stinkfly's tail. One of the crooks pointed his gun, trying to get rid of the large pest but had his hand stuck to the side of the car.

"Did you really have to go bank-robbing on a Sunday!? Couldn't you wait till after the church lunch rush or something?" The driver started swerving, trying to knock Stinkfly off, but only caused the others to miss their shots. Not paying attention to the road itself, the driver crashed into a truck sending the alien through a jewelry store window. The Omnitrix symbol started to flash, and with the cops surrounding the crashed car, he took it as his cue to rush into the ally and hide.

A flash of red and a quick sprint later, Ben found himself lost in downtown Bellwood. It was going to be a while before the watch was going to recharge, and he had to be at the Dweeb's fight in... "THIS STUPID WATCH DOESN'T TELL TIME!" He screamed as those around him stared. He knew he was already late, but it was very likely that he had missed it altogether.

He had found his way around countless cities across the country, but he couldn't find his way around his own home town!? He could try and ask one of the cops at the crash, but they'd probably call his parents, and they'd ask why he was downtown instead of at the tournament. He knew he should have accepted his grandpa's offer to give him a ride, but he desperately wanted to fly around again. He kept his word and didn't use the watch (except to mess with his bullies), so when the chance came up, he took it.

He wondered the streets trying to find something that looked familiar. He eventually found a bus stop with a map of the city on it. He was about a mile and two miles from where the school should be. He still wasn't sure what time it was, but if his mile time in PE was accurate (which it probably wasn't), he could be at the school in twenty minutes. Praying that he would make it in time, he broke off in a sprint down the road. It didn't take long for his lungs to start to burn, but he pushed through it. He worked up a lot of muscle during the summer, and before he knew it, he was in a familiar part of town. He took a short cut through a park and pushed people out of his way, not bothering to say sorry. "I'm coming, Gwen!"


She got through the semi-final without too much trouble. They had a couple of good kicks in, but they lost like all the others. She was starting to get tired with her mana skin wearing down on her. They had a quick intermission so they could get ready for the final match. Her opponent was a large boy from outside the city. While she had been performing swift, precise strikes, he had been physically overpowering the much smaller competitors. He looked like he was too old for this tournament, but he passed the age check and had been demolishing all of his competition.

Mr. Saito had stopped her before she could enter the arena. "Gwendolyn," he called, "no matter what happens here, just remember you gave it your all." She gave him a nod of acknowledgment then walked onto the mats.

The timer started, and instantly she felt a punch take all of the air from her lungs. He was fast, almost too fast for his size. He went in for another strike, but she countered and got a single hit in before he got swiped at her side. No matter what she did, he was able to recover just as fast. He had a three-point lead on her, and there were less than ten seconds left. The boy was going in for another hit when the gymnasium doors flung open.

"KICK HIS BUTT, DWEEB!" Everyone was staring at the sweaty ten-year-old boy panting in the doorway, including her opponent. Taking the opportunity, she kicked at his leg, causing him to stubble low enough for her to go for a roundhouse at his head. The timer went off as she was mere inches away from his head, freezing her in place. The final score was 12:13. If she had got that last kick in, she would have taken the lead and the victory. Gwen lowered her leg down and gave the larger boy a hand. They stared into each other's eyes, acknowledging each other's strength and agreeing to give it their all next time.


"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WENT HERO WITHOUT ME!" Gwen was screaming at her doofus of a cousin behind the gym. "You broke rule number three, and it's the most important rule mind you; why didn't you come and get us!?"

"I didn't want to take you away from your competition," Ben said, not wanting to look at her in the eye. "Besides, I made it in time to see you get your butt kicked just like I said I would." He tried to play off the joke but even couldn't hide how upset he was that she had lost. It seemed like the only person who wasn't upset by it was the girl herself who was fuming with rage.

"Screw the competition!" She screamed, not caring who heard. "Do you know how worried I was?" She could feel the tears forming that she had held back all morning. "We're a team, aren't we?" Ben was taken aback by her sudden change. The last thing he wanted was to make her cry. He'd rather have the watch torn off his wrist than see the strongest girl he knew to break down to tears.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I promise-" He was cut off by a punch to the face knocking him to the ground. "Jesus Gwen, I said I'm sorry!" He held up his hand, expecting to get hit again, but instead, she was on top of him sobbing into his chest.

"If you break your promise again, you'll get a lot worse than a punch, Doofus." Around the corner, their grandpa was watching the fight and decided that Ben was punished enough. He told Frank and Natalie that he'd give the kids a ride home so they could head back first. The kids were going through a lot that not many could understand, so he gave them their time to work it out.


June 4, 2016

Chicago, IL; 12:27 pm

"It seems like everywhere you go, trouble isn't that far behind," Julie said from the other end of the phone call, "I'm glad you're safe, though."

"Come on. Nothing can take me down." He said, trying to come off as confident. When there wasn't a snarky remark, he got a little worried. "You still there, babe?"

"Yeah, just thinking." It came of quiet and almost uncertain, but he decided not to push it. He figured that if she wanted to talk about it, she'd bring it up then. "I'm gonna let you go. I'm having breakfast with some friends in a bit."

"Oh, okay. I love you."

"Yeah, love you too." The call ended, and he couldn't make sense of what that was. They've been distant ever since graduation. He chalked it up tot hem being busy, but this was different.

He walked out of the backroom of the RV and saw Gwen sitting in the booth. The scabs were almost completely gone, just leaving some nasty scars. She still hasn't spoken since waking up this morning and they're not sure if it's from the fear toxin or something else. He still felt the guilt he had last night but chose to ignore it. Max was nowhere to be seen, meaning he was still inside the hotel trying to get his money back. Hotels all across the city were denying refunds with a large number of people trying to get out after the attack yesterday. He felt his blood boil every time he thought about how he left that bastard getaway, but he refused to let it show, especially in front of Max and Gwen.

He looked inside the fridge for something edible but quickly realized he didn't have much of an appetite to begin with. He decided to steal a glance at his cousin. She was still staring out the window like a dead fish. All the color was lost from her face. Even her hair looked dull in her current state. As a kid, he could think of a million and one insults and quips to get under her skin, but even if he tried, he doubted she'd hear any of them. The only thing that wanted to escape his mouth was, "I'm sorry." Instead, he left out a sigh and returned to lay on his bunk, hoping to return to the open road. As if that would magically make all of there problems disappear.