"WAKE UP!"

"Urrghh."

"Damn it, Ben Tennyson, get your lazy ass up! I'm tired of waiting!"

"Rawrr. Nooo." I pulled the covers over my head, hiding from all the bright lights Rika had turned on.

"Don't make me come in there."

I pulled the covers down just far enough to peer out towards the angry, blue-skinned girl. When I saw her face, I quickly hid again. It was a look that burned deep into your skin. At that point, I knew I was in for it.

"Whyyyy?!" I whined, still sheltered by the blankets.

"Because. I. Said. So."

"You're not my mommy."

She growled. "I'm grieving! WAKE UP!"

I sighed. "WHY?!"

"I want to get out of the house! It's stifling in here!"

"So? Open a window."

I could hear her take in a sharp breath. "DON'T MAKE ME DRAG YOU OUT OF THE HOUSE!"

I pulled the covers down only slightly and cautiously looked around the room. "…Would it kill you to get on a human sleeping schedule?" I asked as my eyes caught the clock. "It's five-fucking-forty A-M!"

"…Your point?"

"NOTHING IS OPEN!"

"So?"

I took a deep breath to calm down. "If we leave… we can't go anywhere… because everything… will be closed."

Rika pursed her lips, folding her arms across her chest. "I don't care. I want to leave."

"And I want to get some sleep, but it looks like we're both going to be disappointed."

A loud meow interrupted the argument, followed by little Aikka jumping up on the bed. He turned around to face Rika and meowed again.

"…You're just lucky Aikka is hungry. You better be up when I get back."

"I. Am. Up."

She shook her head and left the room, making her way to the kitchen.

Argument number one. This is usually how it goes… every day. Rika bugs me about one thing or another and it turns into an argument. Truthfully, I hate arguing, but it seems to be Rika's fault to begin with.

I sat up slowly, rubbing my eyes. "Really? Five? Why…" I yawned, rubbing my eyes again. When I moved my hands, I saw a fuzzy little Aikka standing by my lap, a pleasant look on his face. "I thought you were eating, little guy…"

He meowed proudly and rubbed against my knee, rolling over onto his side.

"He seems to have taken a liking to you…"

I looked up from the cat. "Yeah… I forced him to face his fears," I laughed.

Rika shrugged, running her fingers through her hair. "I really want to go home… if only for a moment…" Rika chewed on the inside of her cheek.

I yawned again. "I wish I could take you. I have business here. I can't leave again. Not unless lives depended on it."

"Glad to see you still have your 'protect all humans' mentality. Where do I fall?"

I smiled. "Probably for me… if you haven't already," I laughed.

"Shut up, Alien Boy. You already know what I want; you're just too… reserved. I'd hardly vouch that you had a male brain with the way you act. Most of the time, at least," Rika sniffed in.

I smiled. "That's because I'm going to do the smart thing and avoid giving in at all costs… even if it kills me."

She smiled. "So you do want to give in? To what? I'm not doing anything."

"Don't give me that bull. After everything you've done, you're going to deny it? Bull."

Rika laughed. "Well, you'll have to cave in at some point. You're only human."

"Right now, I'm giving into hunger. So, if you'll excuse me…" I rolled off the side of the bed before pulling off the covers, standing to my feet. I held my head, the ever common rush affecting my vision. Mom said it was low blood pressure. Dad said it was low blood sugar. Which is why I drink a soda every morning… It fixes my blood sugar and takes my mind off of anything else.

I walked past Rika on my way out of the room, finding she had grasped my hand to tag along. I'd neglected to change out of my clothes the night before, too worried about Rika to notice. I never minded it to begin with. I didn't see the difference between the two outfits anyway. Maybe minor comfort changes were implemented, but what else? Oh. The money spent on each. Right.

"I have a question," Rika hummed, pulling me off to the far corner of the kitchen. "It's been bugging me for a while now. I saw you buy this thing and I have no idea what it does." She poked at a small appliance.

I smiled, yawning. "Well… it's supposed to make coffee…"

"Coffee? Like Cocoa?"

I shrugged. "Different beans, different outcomes. Cocoa makes chocolate. Coffee is a drink."

Rika sighed. "Too complicated. Just show me."

I walked over to the fridge, forcing Rika to release my hand. "Let me… let me get something to eat first."

She sighed again, inspecting the machine.

I pulled a green soda can out of the fridge and set it on the counter before looking around the house. If I'm not mistaken, I left the cordless phone sitting around the living room somewhere… "Got it," I yawned, wondering if I'd missed any calls.

I'd gone to bed early, the stress of the incident prior having exhausted my energy reservoirs. The screen read 'New Voicemail,' so I typed in the strange mailbox number we were given and listened to the message.

"Mr. Tennyson? Hi, this is Kate. I'm calling you back on the job application you'd submitted earlier this week…"

I sighed, her tone not sounding too promising. Then again, it was early, and nothing sounded too good in the morning.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Rika pushed herself off the counter and told me she would get it, since I was on the phone.

I nodded and continued to listen to the message I'd partially tuned out on. "…. who'd like to inform you that your application have been approved and we'd like to set up an interview with you for wednes—"

Rika suddenly slammed the door, pressing her back against it and her arms our as if to keep it from opening again. "BEN! I think someone's here to see you!" she told me loudly.

The phone slipped from my ear and all joy from the accepted application escaped me. Something was wrong.

Rika slid down the door and her breathing picked up considerably.

The phone dropped to the tiled floor and I rushed over to Rika's side. "Who is it?"

"You don't want to know," she laughed involuntarily—a nervous reaction.

My eyes widened and I looked up towards the door, as if to peer through the wood and see who it was. "Okay," I told Rika, watching the panicked emotion cause the mask to glitch considerably. "Rika, I need you to go into my room and hide in the closet. Shut the door and lock it. Don't let anyone in."

Rika nodded. "I don't think I've ever felt scared… not like this…"

I helped her to her feet, the door beginning to shake violently with an external force trying to take it down. "Go. GO!" I pushed her off down the hall and she ran, fearful eyes staring at me through the crack in the door before she closed it behind her.

I took a deep breath, and tried to pull together a scenario. I already knew who was at the door, but I didn't know what to expect. Were they prison guards, or soldiers protecting the prison? No doubt they knew what to expect from me… but how could I know what to expect from them?

The door took another hit and wood began to splinter. That's when I decided to take a different route outside of the house.

Before I could even touch the Omnitrix, a quiet meow interrupted everything. Aikka's chocolate eyes looked at me from under the couch.

"…Shit." I groaned. Aikka put a hitch in my plan. I couldn't just leave him here. He was Rika's cat, and I couldn't take an extra two seconds to toss the cat into my room with Rika. That would surely spell death for me and the cat, and probably Rika. I needed every second I could get.

I ran from the doorway to the couch and scooped the cat up. He didn't care anymore. He knew his life was at risk (or thought it was, like he would with any other loud noise) and wanted someone—anyone to save him.

I scratched at the Omnitrix with the tip of my finger—all I could use with the cat in my arms—and somehow activated it. Big Chill could get me out of here. He's my only option for a quick getaway and a good distraction.

All I needed to do was distract them long enough to get them away from the house and lose my trail long enough for me to drop the cat off at Kevin's. Gwen would take care of the cat, even if Kevin has a problem with him.

"Hold on tight, little guy," I warned, pressing down the faceplate as best as I could.

I wanted to stretch my wings out as soon as they appeared, but I had to mind the cat. He gave me a strange look as if to say, "Shut up and get on with it."

I sighed and strayed away from my usual antics. I leaped up towards the ceiling and concealed the kitten in my wings, phasing through the ceiling in an instant. The upstairs neighbors were awake, surprisingly. Though, not too surprisingly, it was because of the ruckus downstairs.

Great. We're waking the neighborhood.

Wait… they don't want to be spotted by anyone… this could be good. If my neighbors wake up, then my current opponents will be hesitant to show themselves. If they can't hide… they'll leave…

Bellwood doesn't have many places to hide without running into at least one Plumber. This is going to work to my advantage. Who knew living in a boring town would pay off?

Once we were out of the building, I looked to the ground to find more soldiers than expected. However, they looked human… I wasn't sure of their true race, but either way their human features allowed them to follow after me without the need to hide.

Damn.

I sighed. Aikka's claws began digging into my skin, though it hurt less than it would've normally. Either it was the adrenalin, or the fact that I had no idea of the alien's defenses through what seemed like skin.

I was reluctant to become visible again, but without it there would be no distraction. Without a distraction, Rika would be in danger…

"Hey!" I shouted toward them, without much success. My voice wasn't all that loud, one drawback to this creature. I sighed. Too many quick changes and I wouldn't make it to Kevin's house, or even back here for Rika.

Any quick changes and I'm in danger of draining the Omnitrix faster than planned. I have fifteen minutes maximum to get to Kevin's, drop off Aikka, get back home, and get Rika safely away from this mess before another disaster unfolds. If I lose the ability to use the Omnitrix, we're both dead.

After ruthless attempts to get their attention, I finally gave up and decided a little destruction was the only way. And… the death of one or two of the soldiers would probably help out in the end anyway.

Freezing the first soldier wasn't hard. The next few… When they began to scatter and hide to take their aim, I lost focus and began to turn to survival mode. I had to get moving quickly. At least now I had their attention, so they would follow after their target rather than a lesser fugitive. I was the most dangerous and the most wanted. If they lost me and caught Rika instead, they might not have such a good outlook for their jobs. But if they catch me, at least they'd have another chance to find her.

… All the more reason not to get caught.

"Hold on. Pretend it's just a ride on my bike. ….Okay bad example, you hated that. At least Rika was there last time. I know I'm not your favorite, little guy, but I'm all you've got right now so hang in there!" I made sure I had a good grip on Aikka before flying off, and noted that not only were the soldiers following me, but they were shooting as well.

I looked to the east, finding a rather large patch of trees in the direction of Kevin's house. It was the forest, or forest-like line of trees I passed when riding to—or nearby—Kevin's. It was perfect to lose the soldiers' trail and on my way to getting Aikka to safety.

Aikka meowed fearfully, his tail wrapped around my arm. His long, off-white fur was being furiously whipped around in the wind, but he was all right for the time being.

I tried not to watch him, hoping his fear-filled eyes wouldn't distract me from the plan. There was a natural pond in the middle of the trees, and it seemed like a good place to lose them. Unfortunately, the only option was to quick change to Brainstorm… Now I was beginning to worry.

I safely landed on the ground and looked at Aikka. He seemed a little calmer now that we were on the ground, but it wouldn't last long. Not with what I was going to do next. Cats hate water… After today, that cat probably won't even go near water, let alone drink it.

I set him on the ground. "Just… give me two seconds," I breathed, trying to calm my nerves before doing a potentially dangerous change.

Aikka was merely happy to be on his feet and took refuge next to a large rock embedded in the ground only a few inches away from where I set him down.

I looked around the pond, then turned towards the trees. They were closing in on the pond. I nodded to myself and faced the water, grasped the Omnitrix symbol, and turned it to the left twice. In one moment I'd drained probably more than half of the Omitrix's power, yet potentially bought both Aikka and I some time.

I looked over at the cat who had the look of 'dinner' in his eyes as he watched me. "I'm trying to save your life. Be grateful, feline."

I've never been used to Brainstorm's vernacular, nor his overwhelming amount of knowledge. I have never been sure if it was to be considered annoying or helpful… Right about now, I'd say both.

Sadly, I didn't have much in the way of… appendages to grasp onto the cat, nor wings to shelter him in from the water. I was beginning to think Jet Ray may have been a better idea, but I had no second chances now; I had to make do with my minor—or maybe major—mistake.

"Hold still. I'm going to hate this more than you're going to hate me." I carefully picked him up with what seemed like potentially dangerous pinchers and stuffed the terrified kitten in the safest place I could think of—my mouth. ((Don't blame me. Just read on it'll get funnier, and you'll see why I did it xD))

The cat had little room to struggle, but I was sure after today, getting just about anything pierced wouldn't be half as bad since Aikka would've done a worse job with his claws. I quickly looked around and climbed into the pond, trying to disturb the water as little as possible.

Now, as I crawled to the deepest part of the pond, I had time to think. And the only thought in my mind was the fact that I didn't drink my soda…

I rolled my eyes and kept watch on the surface of the pond. No helicopters, thank God, but I could feel the ground rumble as the two large Jeeps carrying the soldiers arrived. I could hear the soldiers unload and begin shooting at the trees and the surrounding area.

I quickly wondered how long we'd been under the water, and hoped the cat wasn't going to kill me once we were safe. If they didn't leave soon enough… another potentially dangerous move was our next resort.

Two more minutes and I feared for the cat. That was it, I couldn't wait any more. Don't kill me, Aikka, I prayed in my mind, quickly pushing off toward the surface. And it only took two seconds for them to spot me. Luckily, I was faster than them.

I shot off towards the edge of the pond and crawled out fast enough to evade their threatening shots. Once I was safely in the trees, I only had a moment to act. I pulled the kitten out and sighed. "Don't give me that look. You don't taste all that pleasant either, mongrel." I set him carefully on the ground so he could assess the damage I'd done to his 'precious' fur and turned the Omnitrix symbol to the left five times.

In an instant, I was one creature cloned countless times. I had no time to waste. "Echo-Echo," I quickly exclaimed, and the words echoed from creature to creature. The original quickly scooped up Aikka and rushed him as far away from the soldiers as possible, yet on the correct path to getting to Kevin.

"Don't cry, little guy," I laughed. "I'm sure Gwen will give you a nice bath." The jokes weren't really in the cat's best interest, but they kept my spirits up.

"Back off!" the copies yelled in unison, sending a sonic shock towards all the soldiers in range. They clutched their heads in pain, one of them soon complaining of bleeding ears. I'd never projected that on humans prior to today, but at least now I know they're humans.

That also meant the feds were informed of my escape by some God-sent miracle. I'm surprised they'd actually communicate with our government. Our government isn't worth the time of day by the general public, let alone supposedly non-existent E.T.'s…

I quickly identified their commander and began to take him down. Soldiers began to pick us off one by one, and it didn't take long to get back up. When one of the men was too strong to oppose, all I had to do was scream and let the rest take course.

When one of the copies grabbed hold of the commander's head, it only took a moment to break his neck and move on. The next in line was the first to order the remaining uninjured soldiers to attack. He was my next target. Another copy took him down in an instant. They only grew easier from there.

The remaining soldiers were easy to knock out and kill with their own weaponry. That took care of the first round of soldiers, and it would probably only be a matter of time until they realized I wasn't captured and their troop was killed… that meant more soldiers and more innocent people to be killed.

Those soldiers were only doing their jobs, and I knew there were at least twenty-six mothers going to get that six A.M. wake-up call that no mother ever wants to get. I never wanted to be the cause of that…

I turned the Omnitrix to the right seven times and continued to run as the copies were quickly magnetized back to the original. Once they were all absorbed, another potentially dangerous quick change drained yet another vital portion of the Omnitrix's power.

So far… the Omnitrix was holding out. I wasn't in critical danger any longer so there was no chance in hell it would recharge itself again, if it even had when Aikka and I were in the pond. I hoped that even a little recharge would've happened as any power is better than what I started out with. The only time I'd notice a quick recharge is if I was entirely out of power and back to my normal, weak, human self and it suddenly said there was power.

The Omnitrix isn't big on protecting me, or even notifying me that I could possibly save my own life. But if it happens to be in danger, it makes no buts about getting us both out of there safely. It's one selfish piece of crap but without it…

Hell, without it I wouldn't have gone to prison. Without it, Gwen wouldn't be with that asshole Kevin. Without it… Grandpa Max wouldn't be caught up in too much of the Plumber's business… He'd probably still be retired…

Damn it. Without the Omnitrix, all our lives would be a lot better.

But I wouldn't have met Rika…

Weighing the sides, nothing matched up. Rika weighed down the scale a lot, but so did all the cons. Either way, my opinion didn't matter. I had the Omnitrix and the only one who could decide to get rid of it would be… well, frankly, the Omnitrix would be the only one to decide.

Back to Big Chill, I was safe to fly. I gripped on to slimy cat and grimaced, kicking off into the air. "Ew… I'll probably be picking your fur out of my mouth for months. Don't feel too bad. Your revenge was well-taken. I have four holes in my tongue and a hairball the size of Texas."

The cat seemed satisfied, though perturbed that his fur was still a mess. The clean freak twitched and urged to lick his fur, but there was no allowance between my grasp and his tongue's destination.

I laughed at the sight of his failed attempts. This was something I wished I had on video.

I looked beyond the trees, finding Kevin's hose to only be moments away. How would I get someone's attention, though? Knock on the door? Kevin would take one look and laugh. Gwen would probably be asleep. That meant I had to break in Big Chill-style—right through the wall…

I leaned in towards the left and headed straight for the upstairs, eastern-facing bedroom. Aikka's claws grew tense as the wall and our seemingly-immanent crash grew closer. As the wall was supposed to hit and kill us both—or cave into the force—we passed safely through and I managed to stop just before the bed. Since the sun was starting to rise, there was enough light in the room. I carefully walked over to Gwen and set Aikka gently on the bed. The terrified kitten gave in and fell to his knees, shaking in fright.

"Gwen," I breathed. "Gwen, wake up."

Luckily, she was a light sleeper, and my voice was louder in the silence. The red-head slowly opened her eyes, but quickly jolted up at the sight of a strange creature at her bedside.

"Shh! It's me, Ben. I have a favor to ask!" I quickly covered her mouth, but Gwen proceeded to get out of bed.

"Ben!" she scolded quietly. "What are you doing here?!"

"They're after us. I managed to… well, kill them off, but I need you to do me a huge favor and keep Rika's—our cat safe. Just for a little while."

Gwen rubbed her right eye, looking toward Aikka. "Aw… Ben, don't tell me you flew him all the way here." She reached out to brush his fur with her hand and quickly pulled back. "What did you do to him?!" she asked quickly, wiping a strange substance from her hand onto her comforter.

I laughed nervously. "Well… I did what I had to to keep the cat safe. Just keep him safe, all right?"

She sighed. "Kevin's not going to like this."

"Kevin's an ass and needs to suck it up."

She rolled her eyes. "Get out of here. Please. I'm tired."

"You're tired," I sighed, turning back towards the wall. "Rika woke me up at five."

She looked at the clock. "It's only six."

I quietly cried to myself. It'd only been fifteen minutes… Though, that meant I had at the very least only three minutes left to make use of the Omnitrix. "I'll see you later," I breathed, taking another leap through the wall. I already missed the cat, oddly enough. I'd grown quite attached to him, even if I'd just torn down all the trust between us trying to keep his furry ass safe…

It took most of the time I had left to get back home, and even more time to try to get Rika to open the door of the closet. Trying to make a plausible argument using a creature that has a voice volume limit of only so much is pretty much impossible.

"Just open the door!"

"No!"

The fact that Rika wasn't really familiar with Big Chill or any of the other nine aliens didn't really help me out, either. "Open the damn door, Rika. It's Ben."

"….Prove it!"

I sighed, the Omnitrix inevitably timing out. "You call me Alien Boy."

"Anyone could've overheard that."

"I bought you a cat."

She laughed. "You could've been following us around."

I rubbed my neck, yawning. "You woke me up at five-forty-five. You pinned my arm down on the office desk and kissed me. You hate the clothes you picked out for yourself. I left my damn soda on the counter and I'm extremely irritable. Rika, just open the goddamn door, I'm not in the mood to argue!"

A cautious moment later, the door slowly began to open. Rika's suspicious expression turned to a thankful smile as she launched herself out of the closet and threw her arms around my neck. "Thanks for coming back."

I sighed. "Yeah, well, it wasn't easy getting that damned cat out of here. You wouldn't believe what I had to do to get him to safety."

"Now that sounds like the Ben I know. So… where is my little Aikka anyway?"

"Gwen has him. He'll be fine."

She rested her head on my shoulder, letting out a relieved breath. "Good. I don't think I could forgive you if you kept him in harm's way."

"Whoa, whoa, wait." I pried Rika off of me. "So you're saying you weren't even slightly worried I would've died out there?"

She laughed. "Pshh, no. I know you could kick ass. If I doubted that for a second I wouldn't have agreed to lock myself up in such an unprotected room and leave you to fight them off."

I wasn't exactly sure if that was a compliment or not.

"So… how long until we have to leave this place?"

I rolled my shoulders, a cold shiver running up my spine. "Probably a few hours. I don't know how long it'll be until back-up discovers they're dead."

She laughed. "You killed them?"

"Yeah, and I had to eat your cat and hide at the bottom of the pond." I pulled one of many strands of cat fur from my mouth. "It's not fun trying to save a cat."

"Ew, you're sick! You ate my cat?!"

"No, I told you he's with Gwen."

She folded her arms across her chest for a moment, angered by my strange actions. Then she stepped forward and stood on her toes to kiss my cheek. "Well, at least he's safe. I guess. Thanks."

I smiled. "Don't ever make me save him again. I'm going to be picking his fur out of my mouth until hell freezes over," I stuck my tongue out, pulling off a few more strands.

She laughed. "Your fault, not mine."

"Yeah, yeah."

ooo

One, I'm on a roll.

Two, Damn this chapter is long. Longer than the average length of a chapter in my novel…

Three, Here comes the next chapter.