Interlude: Verdona
After having explained to his parents that Azmuth was the Omnitrix's creator, Sandra insisted on meeting him. Carl, not in any mind to oppose his wife and rather curious himself, agreed. Ben rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Alright, but can we please do this tomorrow? It's been a very long day," Ben moaned dramatically.
His parents acquiesced and Kevin suggested they ask Julie if they could borrow Ship to take them to Galvan Prime, and of course Max offered to tag along. Soon enough, to Ben's immense relief, their guests left one-by-one until he and his parents were alone. Ben sighed and offered to wash up the dishes for his mother, and she joined him while his father straightened up the living room.
"Can you tell me more about Azmuth?"
"He's a crotchety old Galvan scientist who threatens to take away the watch every other crisis, but he means well."
"Galvan?"
"Right- uhhh- Grey Matter's species."
"Tiny, grey, looks like an upright walking frog?"
"That's the one."
Ben had been speaking with his hands, something he rarely did anymore and Sandra couldn't help but smile at his gesticulating. Ben went back to washing while Sandra dried and Sandra asked another question.
"The ones you used to change into before, I don't see them so often. May I ask why that is?"
"The Omnitrix generally works in sets of ten. When I was a kid, I started with a Pyronite, Vulpimancer, Ectonurite, Kineceleran, Petrosapian, Lepidopterran, Tetramand, Piscciss Volann, Galvan, and Galvanic Mechamorph. Later on; I got an Arburian Pelarota, Florauna, Loboan, Opticoid, To'kustar, Splixon, Transylian, Thep Khufan, and Gourmand."
Ben had been looking at the sink, lest he miss a knife and injure himself; but as soon as he glanced up at his mother to gauge her reaction, he could feel his heart sink a bit. His mother was blinking owlishly, clearly a bit lost.
"Uhm, you following Mom?"
"Yes honey, the names are throwing me off a bit, but I think I can figure it out."
"You sure?"
"Yes honey."
"Okay. So when I put the Omnitrix on again last year, it rebooted and I started out with a different set."
"And what species were those?"
"Methanosean, Crystalsapien, Celestialsapien, Aerophibian, Biosovortian, Vaxasaurian, Cerebrocrustacean, Polymorph, Arachnichimp, and of course, Necrofriggian."
"Cerebrocrustacean is the big orange crab, right?"
Ben looked up in surprise.
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"The Plumbers came up with the English names, right?"
"More or less. English didn't really exist as a language to the rest of outer space until the Plumbers, so I guess so."
"Well, cerebral has to do with the brain and a crustacean is crab; so I just jumped from there."
Ben paused. He learned the proper names of his transformations fairly recently, but he had never thought to wonder about the etymology. He had always figured that the correct names were translations to English, but he never figured that English might have been a late addition to the intergalactic scene. Up until now, he never imagined that the plumbers had to make up new words for beings human linguists had probably never even dreamed of in their lives.
"Huh… never thought about that."
"Thought about what?"
Ben and Sandra glanced back at Carl before sharing a look and smiling back at him.
"Nothing," they chorused.
Carl shook his head good-naturedly, pleased there was some semblance of normalcy reestablished.
-OMNITHEORIES-
The ship was quiet; and Gwen was taking the opportunity to catch up on her homework.
Since their trip to Galvan Prime wasn't rushed, Ben took the opportunity to show his parents the different shifts on the Ultimatrix's holographic viewer. Sandra noted every appearance with their nicknames while Carl seemed to be cataloguing each species' scientific name. Ben glanced up and didn't fail to notice Grandpa Max looking at them fondly. Ben gave him a grin but couldn't help but wonder… Had Grandpa kept being a plumber from his dad and Uncle Frank for as long as he could until Grandma went back to Anodyne? Or had they grown up knowing? He loved his family dearly, but Ben noticed that his grandpa and his father and uncle didn't seem all that close. It made Ben puzzle…
"Alright, we're about two hours away," Kevin said, bringing Ben back to reality.
Gwen finished her homework and got up to talk to Kevin, meanwhile Ben moved to his grandfather's side, he let himself lean on Grandpa Max before speaking, his voice just above a whisper.
"Grandpa, how did you tell Dad and Uncle Frank about… well, everything?"
Max gave a wry, knowing smile.
"I suppose I should have expected this," Max said knowingly. "Well, Verdona and I hadn't planned on having kids, but when Frank was born there wasn't really any going back. I will never forget the look on Verdona's face when she first told me; she didn't quite believe it herself. She was all wide-eyed and confused."
"She didn't think it could happen, did she?" Ben asked.
"No, I don't think she did," Max said with a soft chuckle. "Verdona was excited though, once she got over her confusion. She had never thought about being a mother but she was excited to try. We kept everything a secret, didn't want the kids to worry about me not coming home every time I left for work. Even so, the thing with being parents was that society had so many expectations for us, Verdona especially."
"Grandma didn't really take that too well, did she?" Ben said, trying to suppress a laugh.
"You have no idea, the neighbors used to give her such stink-eyes, but Verdona would always hold her head up high," Max said with a fond smile. "She'd climb trees with Frank in her arms and pick apples with him while someone next-door started scolding her."
Ben smiled. That sounded like his grandma all right. He laughed a little at the idea of a younger Verdona with a toddler in her arms, in a dress on a tree branch, while some prissy busybody shouted their head off from the other side of a hedge. He looked back up at his grandpa whose smile had lessened and his eyes had a wistful, almost sad look in them.
"Then, when Frank was a little older and Carl came around, the scrutiny wasn't funny anymore, not for Frank at least. And with two kids to worry about, it didn't get much easier for her. At the time, I was away on longer missions; and people talk, whether it's the truth or not."
Ben nodded knowingly, he was acutely aware of the rumour mill nowadays. He didn't want to know what sort of nasty things people might have said about his grandparents. Did not even want to imagine it.
"How did you deal with it?" Ben asked softly.
"I didn't, Verdona did. She never let me know what they were saying, always kept me up to date with the boys, never once let me know something was wrong."
Ben wryly thought that his grandma was probably where he got his tendency for ill-thought-out secrecy from.
"Then one night I came home, Frank was out for a drive and Carl was staying over at a friend's house, and Verdona was crying."
Ben blinked, almost not believing what he was hearing. Grandma Verdona? Crying? Verdona was many things, effervescent, strong-willed, stubborn, and powerful. Even when she was grieving Grandpa Max she was nothing less than playful. Ben could not imagine her crying.
"Anodites are social creatures, just like humans. But Verdona hadn't made many friends. Even when she tried to blend in, she couldn't make any connections with anyone. Frank, well, I don't think he was quite so fond to spend time with his mother then. He was busy with school, trying to manage his own social life, getting ready for college; and Carl was still a bit too young to really understand what was wrong."
"So, what did you do?" Ben asked.
"I took fewer long-term missions, for one. I tried to encourage the boys to spend time together as a family, had a few friends of mine stop by to check on things when I would be gone longer than anticipated. It helped, a little."
"So, how did Dad and Uncle Frank find out about you being a Plumber?"
"Work followed me home one day," Max said gravely.
Ben's eyes widened. Logically, he knew the story ended with everyone alive, otherwise, he and Gwen would not be there, but still. The irrational part of him worried about what had happened to his family.
"Then attacked the house the next time I was gone. What they didn't count on was Verdona."
Ben visibly relaxed. His first and last fight with his grandma was not something he wanted an encore to. He could only imagine what her attackers looked like after she was through with them. A no holds barred fight with her would be devastating, especially if Dad and Uncle Frank had been in danger.
"We had to pass of the damage as an unexpected gas explosion to the neighbors, but after that we sat the boys down and told them about them everything. Frank had figured out everything else. Carl was floored."
Ben could figure out the rest. He sat contemplatively, thinking about his how Uncle Frank had interacted with Verdona, and how Verdona had insisted on training Gwen on Anodyne with her. The more he thought about it, the more he began to understand why Verdona had been so adamant about Gwen's training. He looked back at Max with a worried stare.
"That's the tricky thing about being a parent. You do what you think is best and hope you made the right decision."
Ben didn't get a chance to say anything else as the distinct chime of a computer drew everyone's attention.
You are encroaching Galvan Planetary Territory. As you are demonstrably of low intelligence, I offer this warning: turn back immediately, or automatic security systems will destroy your vessel.
"OH COME ON!" Kevin wailed.
-OMNITHEORIES-
[A/N] Alright, so this veered off 'theory' territory and probably landed in headcanon town. (Sorry, but this is where the story wanted to go!) I can't imagine Verdona had it easy, suppressing her very being for the sake of appearances and the peace of mind of her family. She's a free spirit! Carl and Frank have somewhat strained relationships with their parents, and I can only imagine their relationship with their mother had decayed after she left to reconnect with her heritage. I also wanted to make Verdona's actions in What Are Little Girls Made Of? make a bit more sense. She mentioned that neither of her sons were anodites like her, and that probably made her feel even more alienated (no pun intended). The prospect of having someone like her in the family after so long was probably overwhelming.
Smaller theories would include drawing similarities between parents and children. Sandra learns the alien species by the nicknames Ben gave them, while Carl latches on to the proper English terminology. Also, that the English names probably aren't even what the species call themselves in their own languages.
I'll get to Azmuth and the Friggian babies next chapter (hopefully).
Please leave a review and let me know if you want me to talk/speculate about Carl and Frank's relationships with each other and their parents, as well as Carl's reaction to this revelation. (Because, let's be real; there is no way everyone didn't overhear that little conversation.)