Chapter 7: Aches and Pains

February, 1999

"Can't we just go home?" Ben grumbled as he sat slumped in the passenger seat.

"This was a very thoughtful gift from Gwen," his mother said in her best mom voice. "I wish I had more of a chance to study Eastern culture."

"She just wants to show me up," Ben said. Or to laugh, he thought as he glared down at his 'pajamas.' He was beyond glad that it was cold enough for him to wear a coat over it.

"She's been doing this for two and a half years now, Ben, you can't expect to be as good as her on your first day. And I'm sure she hasn't done all of this just to embarrass you." The patience in her voice fled with her next words. "Now, if she was her mother…"

Ben closed his eyes. "We probably won't even see Aunt Lili."

"If we're that lucky, I may buy a lottery ticket."

Ben chuckled. Once. That was enough for his mother.

"Oh, I think we're here." They made a hard right turn that left Ben clutching at the door. He slowly pushed himself up as dread mixed with curiosity. To his relief, there weren't any huge windows that showed off what was happening inside. One of the gyms in the mall had that, and he always had a blast eating ice cream in front of it.

Somehow, it didn't seem so funny now.

If he were really lucky, he could get in and out without anyone he knew seeing him.

"Call me if you need anything," his mother said as he undid his seat belt. "I'll pick you up in a couple of hours. Try to have fun."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Ben…"

"All right, I'll try."

"That's all I ask."

Ben gave his mother a half-hearted wave and watched as she drove away. As soon as she was out of sight his eyes went to the Omnitrix. He could be out of here so easy and have some real fun for the next few hours instead of going to more school.

"Don't even think about it."

Ben nearly jumped out of his skin as he spun around. Gwen was standing behind him with her arms crossed and her foot tapping the ground. "I wasn't."

"You so were." She looked at him and sighed. "Just one month, okay? Then, if you don't like it, you can hold it over me for the rest of our -" Ben bared his teeth at the thought and she moved fast, "- for the next decade or two."

Ben sighed and nodded. He really didn't want to be here, not even for the mad fu skills, but the bitching rights were almost worth it.

"Good." Gwen grinned at him. Then she reached over and started adjusting his gi. He reached up in protest and she slapped his hand away. "I want you to be presentable when I introduce you to the the Sensei." She paused and glanced down at his sneakers while she crinkled her nose. "You did change your socks, right?"

"Only because Mom made me," Ben grumbled as he shifted in his sneakers. The seams were digging into his toes. Clean socks were never as comfortable as ones he'd already broken in.

"Thank you, Aunt Sandra." She reached up and adjusted his collar a half inch to the right, and let go to look at it. Then she made a soft hiss and adjusted it again, this time to the left. Ben would have sworn that the collar was in the exact same place it was before she started fiddling with it, but she nodded anyway. He muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes as she kept primping.

And that was when he saw the orange belt around Gwen's waist. "How long does it take to get one of those?"

Gwen froze in mid-brush on his shoulder and chewed on her lip before answering. "A couple of years," she finally said, her voice small.

"A couple of years?" he repeated, the words one long whine. He reached and ran his left hand through his hair. Two whole years?

Gwen's eyes went wide as the sleeve slid up his arm. "I can't believe I forgot the Omnitrix!"

"So?"

"We can't have watches on while we practice!"

Ben was about to laugh about the ninjas being afraid of a little bling when he saw his chance. He brushed Gwen's hand off his arm. "It was a great present, Gwen, but…"

"Indeed it was, Mr. Tennyson," a somber voice said beside them. Ben jumped at the sudden interruption, while Gwen just stood there and looked embarrassed. Ben's hand went to the Omnitrix while he stared at the source of the soft voice.

The man was a couple of feet taller than Gwen, with hair and a mustache that were gray except for a few specks of black. He wore the same white gi as Ben and Gwen, but his belt was a solid black line around his waist.

"Sensei!" Gwen bowed and then elbowed Ben, who copied her move as well as he could. "This is my cousin, Ben, who I was telling you about," Gwen said, her words an embarrassed rush.

"Yes, Ms. Tennyson. I remember."

"Well, I kinda forgot about his bracelet…"

"Its not a bracelet, it's a watch," Ben said with a huff.

"You see, it's a family heirloom, and he can't-"

The Master just stared down at them. "Yes. Your Grandfather stopped by a couple of days ago and informed me of it. May I see it, Mr. Tennyson?"

Ben stared at the outstretched hand and hesitated. Way too many people have tried to take the Omnitrix for him to want to show it to anyone. Well, except for the people at school, and that was just so they'd know how cool he was. It was sad that they were missing out.

"If you know my Grandfather, then what's the name of his R.V.?" It was a password they'd come up with years ago when his mom and Gwen's had freaked out about whatever the latest horror story was on the news. It was one of the two things that the women had ever actually agreed on. And now, three years latter, it was finally going to be useful.

"I believe he called it a… Rust Bucket?"

Ben still didn't move until Gwen elbowed him again. He sighed and held it out his arm. "Here."

The Sensei reached out and looked at the Omnitrix with a soft scowl. Then he tapped the metal band and the face with his finger. Finally he nodded. "You will have to be extra careful, and we will have to wrap this, but I see no reason why you can not wear this while you train."

Gwen grinned in relief and bowed again, while Ben saw his best chance for freedom vanish. "Thanks."

"Come this way, Mr. Tennyson. First you will see the more advanced students start their practice, and then you and the rest of the new class will begin. Ms. Tennyson here is very impressive."

"Already know that," Ben said. Gwen brushed at her hair and grinned. He looked up at the old man as he was herded into the building. "You know my grandfather?"

The Sensei nodded. "Oh yes. I had a serious crisis when I first opened the dojo and he came to my rescue."

Ben's ears perked up. "Was it Plumbing related?"

"Of course." Ben lit up. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Then he saw Gwen shove her hand over her mouth as she fought down a laugh. "The previous tenants were brutes. Absolutely none of the toilets would work. Your grandfather worked for twelve hours to fix them all before the first class."

"Toilets."

"Of course. What did you think it would be? I've spoken with him many times since. He hasn't missed a tournament yet that Ms. Tennyson here has been in. When he came to me two days ago and explained the situation, I couldn't refuse him such a simple request."

"Go, Grandpa."

The mat was barely an inch thick and hardly any softer than the floor it was covering, but right now it felt like heaven to Ben. He could hear the rest of the students moving around him, some chatting, some laughing. There were a few groans. Ben didn't make a noise, and that only because he hurt too much to groan.

"Do you need help?"

Even Ben's eyelids hurt. He didn't know why, but they did. Still, he forced them to work. Gwen was leaning over him. There was a little concern in her eyes and a huge grin on her face. "I'm fine."

"Good. So, you aren't having a heart attack?" Gwen sat down on the floor next to Ben's mat with her legs tucked under her.

"When I can move again, I'm going to hurt you so bad…"

"By the time you can move again, it'll be time for the next class."

Ben glared at her. That was all he could do. His legs and arms felt like they were on fire. Where they weren't blissfully numb, anyway. And he felt like he'd been swimming, he'd sweated so much.

But not her, he noticed and simmered. Of course not. Sure, her red hair had darkened, and there was some sweat on her face, but she looked almost as fresh as she did when they'd started. "You could at least pretend you're tired."

"Oh, I am. I'm exhausted." She faked a yawn. "But, isn't it nice to get some exercise?"

"It's great," Ben said as a real yawn forced it way out of him. "I thought I was going to learn how to fight."

"You are."

"All I did was a bunch of steps and stretches."

"You have to learn the basics first."

"Like I'm going to survive the basics," Ben said. He didn't even get the Sensei. No, he'd looked over now and then, but he'd spent most of his time with Gwen's class. Ben had gotten an assistant instead. A tall guy who could have taught Vilgax a thing or two about torture.

Having a saw at your arm was nothing compared to having to do the exact same step thirty-eight times in a row. And in the end Ben wasn't sure if he'd gotten it right or if the guy had just given up. God knew Ben didn't see any difference between how he did it the first time and any of the others.

"You did great." There was something that could almost be called pride in Gwen's voice, though Ben knew she'd deny it.

"Yeah, right."

"You did! I thought you'd collapse in the first ten minutes, but you made it through the whole class."

"Yay me." With that Ben closed his eyes. Things seemed to ache just a little less with his eyes closed.

Gwen seemed to get the hint because she stayed quiet for a whole minute. And then Ben felt something tickle at the tip of his nose. He opened his eyes and saw her finger dangling just over his face. "I'm not touching you…"

Ben slapped her hand away. "I'm going to get you for this. I don't know how, but I will."

"Big talk from someone who looks like an upside down turtle."

"It's going to be epic."

"Promises, promises." Gwen stood as gracefully as she had sat down and held out her hand to Ben. "Now come on. Our moms will be here soon."

Ben thought about grabbing her hand and yanking her down, but that was way too much work. "Just kick me when she gets here." He closed his eyes again. A five day nap sounded perfect right then.

Gwen nudged him with her foot. "You should walk around a little. Or at least stretch."

"I've done that enough."

"If you think it hurts now, just wait until you start to cramp up."

Ben opened one eye. "I can hurt WORSE?"

"Much."

Ben held out his hand. The move made him mutter a word his mother didn't know he knew. "You didn't have to look so happy when you say that."

"Yes, I do," Gwen said as she took his hand.

That was just too much. He grabbed her hand and pulled. She gave a little yelp of surprise as she tumbled down. She landed half on top of him and glared down at him. "Feel better?"

"Much." He grinned up at her.

She blew at her bangs in frustration and stood back up. He held out his hand again, and she just sniffed.

He sighed and pushed himself up off of the floor. He groaned the whole way up.

"Baby," Gwen teased as she bent down and picked up a bottle of water that he hadn't seen. He made a little whimper and stared at it. She rolled her eyes, but she held out the bottle anyway. He swiped it out of her hand and downed the whole thing in two quick gulps.

"You could say thank you," she muttered as he burped. After that she must've decided that he'd suffered enough because she put his arm around her shoulder and helped him over to the lockers.

"One more month?" Ben said. He did not whine. He wanted to, but he was a hero.

"Well, seven more classes." Gwen said. Her smile fading a bit. "And you did do real well."

Ben just snorted.

"Take a look at the rest of the firsties."

Ben finally looked at the other four people who had started today, too. None were on their feet. One guy was curled up in a ball and the other two had either passed out or died.

"Wish I was that lucky."

The lockers were just set against the corner. Ben pulled his arm off of Gwen and stumbled over to the one he'd been assigned. His jacket was easy enough to put on. The pain was only blinding, which was a relief. But the sneakers and socks…

"I don't suppose I could talk you into putting my shoes on…"

"Not even if you paid me."

Ben sighed and stared. Finally he pulled out the socks and stuffed them into his jacket pockets and knocked the sneakers out of the locker. He didn't even pick them up first. He didn't have the strength. He just slapped them out of the locker and let them fall to the ground so he could step into them. He didn't bother to tie the laces, they could wait until he could bend over again. He could hear Gwen snickering from the locker right next to his.

"Worlds of payback."

"It's so worth it," Gwen said as she opened her locker and pulled out her shoes. She sat down on the bench behind them to put them on.

Ben would have joined her, but sitting would have meant having to stand again. He settled for leaning against the lockers while he waited.

He did not fall asleep. He knew that. He was just resting his eyes. Eyes he didn't bother to open when he felt a hand on his arm. He just muttered, "I'm coming," and hoped Gwen would lead him back to the parking lot.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, hero," Gwen said as she took him by the arm and started pulling him to the door. They'd only taken a couple of steps when her breath came in a hiss and her hand tightened around his arm hard enough to hurt.

"Ow!" Ben shouted and pulled his arm away. "What was that-" he started to say when he realized they weren't alone.

Three girls stood in front of them. All three were wearing sweatpants and tank tops instead of gis. None of them were wearing white. The girl in the middle wore dark red, while the one on the left wore dark purple and the other wore a bright pink.

Not a single one had been in the class. Even if he'd gone color blind from pain, he would have noticed them. There had only been one other girl besides Gwen in either class.

"Hi, Gwen!" the girl in red said with a squeal as she launched herself forward and wrapped Gwen up in a hug. Well, hug-like. She avoided actually touching Gwen.

Gwen didn't move a muscle. She didn't even breathe until the girl stepped back. "Marci. Aren't you three early? I thought your class didn't start for another hour?"

"I know." Marci let out a long suffering sigh as she stepped back and brushed her blond hair out of her eyes. "But my mother had to take care of some business at work. She dropped us off here just so we could hang out with our best friend."

"Lucky me."

"Aren't you?" Marci's eyes went to Ben. "And who's this? I don't recognize you," Marci said as she nailed Ben with a grin.

Ben blushed a little. "Hi, I'm Ben. Are you three in the karate class, too?"

The three girls broke into giggles. "Oh, no," Marci said as she wiped at her eyes. "We're in the yoga class. Gwen here might like fighting, but some of us prefer something a little more… classy."

The two girls behind Marci broke into giggles again. Ben didn't understand why. He glanced over at Gwen and saw her blushing.

"He looks like he does, too," the girl on the left of Marci said and pointed at Ben's left arm. Ben glanced down and realized that the padded band the Sensei had wrapped around his arm had fallen off.

Marci let out a little squeal and had Ben's arm in her clutches before he even realized she'd moved. Her eyes were huge as she studied the Omnitrix. "This is gorgeous. I have to have one."

Ben pulled his hand back. "Sorry, it's one of a kind." The glare he got for that made him wonder if he had a new Vilgax on his hands.

But Marci's interest didn't last long. "So, you're a 'friend' of Gwen's?"

She actually used air-quotes. Ben blinked. He'd never seen anyone do that in real life. "No. I mean…"

Gwen's breath came in a little squeak and Marci's face split with a grin. She kept talking to Ben, but her eyes were locked on Gwen's. "I didn't think so. No one really is, isn't that right, Gwen? I heard how crowded your birthday party was. Its sad that there are so many people who will do anything for a bit of cake. I was so HURT that I wasn't invited." She reached up and patted Ben on the shoulder. "Let me guess, you're just stuck hanging out with Little Miss Perfect here until she helps you with some paper or something, huh? We've all been there."

And that was when Gwen broke. She turned and ran from the dojo.

She actually ran.

"Oh, I guess its time for Little Miss Perfect to have a little cry," the girl in purple said.

"I wonder if she wrote it into her schedule?" the other asked and they both laughed.

Marci grinned at Ben. "I hope that I didn't screw up a test for you, but you so owe me one."

"Owe?" Ben asked as he took a big step away from her. Visions of tree wedgies flew through his head. Tree wedgies or worse. So much worse. Heatblast worse…

Except - well, they were still girls. And he couldn't hurt girls. Except for Gwen.

And he was the only one who could hurt Gwen.

"Yeah," Marci said. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Little Miss Perfect thinks she's the best at everything. If you show her even the slightest attention she'll try to run your entire life. Everyone in our school is so tired of it." Marci stopped and smiled to herself. "Well, everyone who matters, anyway."

"I don't see anyone here who matters," Ben said in his best tough-guy voice as his hands went to fists at his side. With that he turned and walked to the door. Well, stumbled off, anyway. He repeated the line to himself with every step and hoped it came out as cool as it sounded in his head.

The three burst in giggles behind him, which made him think it didn't. But the laugh didn't make him nearly as uncomfortable as one of the nameless girls calling out, "Gwen's got a boyfriend!"

And that sent him running out of the door, too. He just prayed that no one heard her.

He looked around for Gwen as soon as he was outside. Well, first he looked around to make sure that no one had heard the girls laughing at him, and then he looked for his cousin. He'd never seen her run away before. There were plenty of kids who were hanging out and waiting for their rides home, but not her. Not that he really thought he would find her that quick.

No. He knew that after that she would have wanted to be by herself.

Which was a bit of a problem, because the dojo was on the outskirts of a park. Which meant she had a lot of places to be alone in.

He walked to the edge of the parking lot. There were trees everywhere, and a small pond in the middle. Plenty of places to hide. The worst part was that there were people everywhere. Bad not just because there wasn't a single one with bright red hair or who was wearing white pajamas, but because there were way too many to not notice a big bug or blue dinosaur, no matter how fast he moved.

Couldn't do anything the easy way.

So he started walking. He didn't have any real destination, he just figured he'd have to get lucky sooner or later. Hopefully before his legs seized up and he died of exhaustion, but he doubted it.

He'd walked about five minutes when he heard a soft sniffling coming from inside a ring of oak trees and turned to it. He really hoped it was Gwen and not a repeat of Denver…

He shuddered at the memory. He really didn't need to see what he saw that couple doing. And they really didn't seem to like the giant bug bursting in on them in the middle of it. He was a little slower investigating screams in the bushes now.

He took a deep breath and stuck his head into the grove. "Gwen?" He asked, and whispered, "pleasebeGwen."

It was.

She was sitting on the ground, her legs drawn to her chest and her face buried in her knees. She didn't say a word, not unless the sniffling was her answer.

But now that Ben had found her, he was lost. He shuffled forward and tried to think of something to say. If only Kangaroo Commando had done an episode about this… Or even a 'Now you Know' segment. But no, all he talked about was fire safety and other boring things. Never anything useful.

"Go away, Ben," Gwen said. Her knees muffled the words, but he could still hear the sniffling.

One alien to punch. That was all he wanted. His eyes went over the town, but there wasn't a single siren. Or even a wisp of smoke in the sky.

Of all the days for criminals to take off…

Ben sighed as he sank down onto the ground next to her. He thought about giving her a hug. He even tried, but he blushed before he even got near her shoulder and let his arm drop back to his side.

"Are you deaf, Doofus? I said go away!"

"No."

Gwen pulled her head away from her knees and glared at him. Tears were streaking her cheeks and her eyes were already bloodshot. "Fine." She pushed herself back up to her feet and turned to storm away.

"Gwen…" Ben said. He winced as he stood. His legs definitely wanted him to make up his mind.

Gwen spun around, her face a brilliant red hue as she started screaming. "Go away! You don't have to take any more classes! You don't have to be seen in public with me! You don't have to call me when you want to go heroing anymore! You don't even have to worry about me hogging your summer with Grandpa! That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

Ben blinked. It was, or at least it used to be.

"You won, okay? You're free."

"But," - it was the socks; this stuff only ever happened to him when he had clean socks - "we're a team."

Gwen looked at him. Really looked. And then she laughed. It was a harsh laugh, the kind that hurt almost as much to make as it did to hear. "No, we're not. You're the hero. I'm just the sidekick."

"Well, yeah…" Ben said and stopped when she turned away again, her face twisted as if he'd just punched her. "…but, heroes need their sidekicks. Who else is there to watch my back? Or to keep me from doing something dangerous." He couldn't stop the grin. "Or fun."

Gwen shook his arm off of her, but she didn't try to get away again. Not that she turned around either. She just hugged herself and looked down at the ground. "But we aren't friends."

"Of course not, we're family. Family can't be friends."

"What if we weren't?"

"Weren't what?"

"Family?"

Ben frowned. "But we are."

"Imagine we weren't," she said and rubbed at her temples. "Would we be friends?"

Ben frown deepened as he thought. "My friends just come over to play video games and watch movies."

Her shoulders fell. "Yeah?"

"Well… Tom is handy in Super-Sumo Smash, but I don't think that he'd hitchhike on an alien spaceship to help me out."

Gwen finally turned, but only enough for her to watch him out of the corner of her eye.
"You're only saying that so I'll help you cram for your next math test."

Ben blinked. Then he grinned at her. "Well, who else is going to explain all those fractions?"

Gwen glared at him for a long moment and he thought she'd storm off again. Which would lead to more chasing, which would mean more walking, which really wasn't something he wanted to do ever again.

Finally, though, her lips twitched and she grinned at him. A grin that vanished as a mortified blush covered her face. She collapsed back to the ground and scrubbed at her cheeks with the sleeves of her gi. "God, I hate her."

"I kinda figured that," Ben said and sat on the ground next to her. His stomach finally unclenched. They were back to bully territory, not feelings. He felt much better here. "Wanna go beat them up?"

Gwen smiled at the thought. "It would be fun…"

"We could give them the JT and Cash special."

Gwen small smile turned into a full fledged grin. Ben was glad he finally broke down and told her that story. "Wedgies from the dojo roof? I like it."

"Hey, you could try that fire spell on them. Give them hot-feet."

"Ben," Gwen said in warning. Not much of one, though. "I liked your last idea better."

"Good. It's hero-" he said, and was about to slap his hand down on the Omnitrix.

Gwen caught his hand. "No."

"Aw, man."

"Am…" Gwen looked away from him, but didn't take her hand off of his. "Am I really Little Miss Perfect?"

Ben shrugged. "I like Dweeb more."

Gwen smacked Ben on the arm, but there was no anger in it. Then she moved a little closer and put her head on his shoulder. "Doofus."