Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY: I'm sorry that it took so long to get this out. I had finals at my school so yeah…anyways…this will be the last of the pointless chapters before the Metal Trial so yay!

A reply to Blau Demon: No, I do not know German but the thing is, my school gets a lot of exchange students from Germany and what I do is I listen to how they talk and then I imitate that onto Upchuck. Thank you for your compliment and I'll keep in mind on what you said.

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Stinkfly held up a purple dress that had white lacing on the sleeves with long, black, stripes running across it. She stood up as straight as she could and she held it up so it was over her body. She turned to Four Arms and said, "How about this? Does this look fine?"

Four Arms briefly looked at the dress and said the same thing as he did with the other dresses, "That looks fine."

Stinkfly made a sour face and walked up to Four Arm's large mirror. She held the dress up and looked at herself. She then shook her head and said, "nope, I don't like this one."

Four Arms sighed, he then squeezed his eyes as he became more annoyed at Stinkfly and her dresses.

"You know," he said, "In my opinion you look great in all of them. Anyone of them will be a good choice."

Stinkfly snarled and said, "Four Arms! I didn't drag all my dresses out to your forest home just for you to say they all look good! You got to say which one of them looks the best!"

Four Arms sighed a big sigh this time and said, "fine! Go with the…blue one."

Stinkfly made an angry face and said, "No! Not that one! That one makes me look fat!"

"I didn't realize insects could get fat…" said Four Arms to himself.

"What was that?" snapped Stinkfly.

"Nothing, nothing! Why don't you then go with the…red one?"

Stinkfly's mouth became thin and said, "the red one is a good choice but it makes me look like a slut. I don't think it would be a good choice for my first date."

"Why are you so picky about what you wear? I've known you for a long time now and you have never become fussy about what you wear."

Stinkfly snorted and said, "well…back then I wasn't trying to look good for anybody."

"What makes this Ditto guy so special?" enquired Four Arms, "never have you once fallen for a guy and now you think he's all the world. How is he different from the other guys?"

By this time, Stinkfly picked up a shiny black dress, while she was looking at it she said, "Well, for one thing he is a gentleman, he is kind to whoever he talks to and he has manners that hardly anyone can meet. He is funny and intelligent but he is not a bore. He seems to have a…"flair"…that defines his personality."

"The way you describe it though, he does sound like a bore."

"He is not! I just…I can't explain it! He's like a book that the longer you read it the better it becomes."

"And books as we all know are interesting."

"Will you hush up and help me with this? Now…how about this?"

Four Arms looked at the black dress and said "That looks fine."

Stinkfly looked at herself in the mirror and said, "No, defiantly not, it makes me look emo."

Four Arms sighed, this could take awhile.

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Ditto adjusted his bow tie as he was looking at his small, wall mirror. He turned to Eyeguy and said, "how does this look?"

Eyeguy's many eyes looked at him and he said, "that looks fine."

"Yeah, I think so too!" said Ditto.

Ditto took his hands and he began to brush off dust from his suit. When that was done he said, "should I comb my hair?"

"Ditto, you don't have any hair."

"Ah! Of course, I keep forgetting."

Ditto then walked to his bed and began to put on his shoes, while he was doing it he said, "I feel that this date is going to work out very well indeed Eyeguy."

"Hopefully," he said, "though it will be interesting experience since you never really got to know Eaglet."

Ditto stopped tying his shoes for a moment and looked up at Eyeguy with a confused expression, "Eaglet? You mean our bird-like teammate? I don't remember asking her out…"

"But you did," continued Eyeguy, "you asked her out a month ago but she was busy for a long time so you both settled on today to do your date."

Ditto still looked at him with his confused expression, then, slowly, his eyes grew huge and his mouth slowly fell open. He then said, "Shit! I totally forgot all about my date with Eaglet! Why was I so stupid that today was the day?"

"Wait…if you weren't planning to go with Eaglet, then why are you getting dressed up like that?"

Ditto groaned and flopped on top of his bed, he then replied, "I have a date with Stinkfly. I asked her out yesterday and she said yes, so we decided on going today."

Trying to find some way to encourage his friend, Eyeguy said, "perhaps Eaglet will forget all about your date."

Ditto shook his head and said, "No, Eaglet never forgets anything, she keeps track of all her schedules. Trust me, she will remember."

Ditto got up from his bed and said, "Well, thank goodness…"

Ditto then took himself and doubled it. They both looked at each other, smiled and said, "we can be at two places at once."

Eyeguy nodded and said, "yes, that is a relief. However, who gets Stinkfly and who gets Eaglet?"

The two Dittos looked at each other and they both said, "I'll rock/paper/scissors you for Stinkfly."

"You're on!" they replied.

They both pulled back a hand and said out loud, "Rock. Paper. Scissors!" and then they threw forward their choice.

Both came up rock.

They both pulled back their hand again and yelled again, "Rock. Paper. Scissors!"

Both came up scissors.

"Rock. Paper. Scissors!"

Both came up rock.

Eyeguy took a book off from his shelf and began to read it upon his bed; he knew that this could take awhile.

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Several hours later…

Alpha Ditto waited nervously for Eaglet to come by. He was chosen to be Eaglet's date so here he was waiting for her at the parking garage of the academy. He checked nervously at his watch to see what the time was, 5:59. She should be here any minute now. He began to pace up and down the sidewalk at a rapid pace while messing with his bow tie. As he was walking, thoughts zoomed in and out of his head like busy flys that were trying to annoy a person. Such thoughts include…

What if she doesn't like the place that I am taking her to?

To…

What if I mess up and say something stupid?

The more he thought about it, the more he thought this date was going to be a bad idea. Before he could ponder any more bad thoughts, a voice chirped, "Here I am Ditto."

Ditto jumped, he hated being scared. Patting his chest, he turned around and saw Eaglet standing there with a harangued look upon her face. She wore a glistening blue dress that went down to her feet. The dress contrasted so nicely with her green and yellow plumage that Ditto was speechless for a brief moment. He was able to find his voice once more when Eaglet's violin like voice said, "Well, let's get going."

"Huh? Oh…yeah…right…"

Ditto held out his arm for her to take it. Eaglet didn't pick up the arm hint and she did nothing. Ditto, realizing that this date was probably going to be bad, lowered his arm and said, "come on. I rented a car out for the evening."

"Where are we going?" she said.

"I was planning that we should go to a good restaurant in Butane. I was thinking…Lisbon's All-Star Dining Palace. I hear they have good soups there."

Butane was a large town that was close to the Mineralist Academy. Ever since the Academy opened, Butane became economically successful and had a large population growth spurt. The reason for this was that students from the Academy would on the weekends like to getaway from the work and do something fun at Butane. The students would not only bring money, but also more jobs to do for the citizens of Butane. Some of the many jobs that have sprouted up were restaurants.

"Whatever," she said, "let's just get this over with. You want to drive or should I?"

"I'll drive, but don't worry, I got my licenses. Even though I had to bribe my instructor to get it…"

Ditto looked at Eaglet, he expected a laugh from her but she did nothing. Ditto bit his lip, this was going to be harder than he thought.

"Come on…" he said groggily.

When the two of them left in a rented car, Beta Ditto showed up fifteen minutes later, however, unlike his counterpart he was not nervous. In fact, he was over excited with joy on what luck he had that he was chosen to date Stinkfly. It wasn't long before he spotted Stinkfly.

She was wearing a dark green dress that had small, light green polka dots covering it. The sleeves were wide so they hung down at a low level and she wore black tights that went all the way up to her hips. Instead of emitting a faint toxin smell like she normally does, Stinkfly had a perfume on that had an uplifting feeling to it. The smell made Ditto's heart pound faster. She was clearly not used to wearing such attire for she was walking, instead of flying, rather awkwardly up to Ditto. Ditto smiled at her and waved at her.

She stopped in front of Ditto and said, "…hello…"

"Good evening Stinkfly," said Ditto, "my do you look lovely tonight."

Stinkfly shook her head and said, "nah…I don't…I'm just regular old me…"

"Well, I think that you look good. Shall we go?"

Ditto held his arm like his Alpha counterpart did for Stinkfly to take. However, unlike last time, Stinkfly took the hint and she gladly hooked her arm with his. The feeling of another body pressing up against Ditto's made Ditto feel all warm inside.

"So…where are we going?" inquired Stinkfly.

"We…are going to Benzene's Brewery. I heard that their deep fat fried steak is delicious!"

Alpha and Beta Ditto both agreed to take their dates to different places so they wouldn't meet each other and thus create chaos. In fact, both stores are on opposite sides of the town.

"Oh I love Benzene's Brewery!" replied Stinkfly, "I go there sometimes to get myself some beer!"

Ditto looked at her oddly and said, "I didn't know you are old enough to drink."

Stinkfly smiled mischievously and said, "I'm not. But I convince the owners there that since I'm no longer a larva, I can drink beer because I'm an "adult."

"Ah…"

Together, they walked into the parking garage, while they were walking, Ditto said, "So, should I drive or should you?"

"I don't care, you can drive."

"Okay, it's a good thing then that I have passed my driver's ed. course…even though I had to in the end bribe my Driver Instructor…"

Stinkfly laughed and said, "I'm not worried, I'm sure you didn't have to pay him off that much to get your licenses."

Ditto smiled and said, "Well…"

Stinkfly laughed again.

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At Lisbon's All-Star Dining Palace Alpha Ditto's date was going harder than expected. Not only has the drive over to Butane been awkwardly quiet, Eaglet has not once laughed at any of his jokes. Alpha Ditto was just glad that they finally arrived at the restaurant. When they got inside, they were immediately shown to a table near a window. After a brief silence, Ditto finally broke the ice and said, "So…are you pumped about the Metal Trial?"

Eaglet made an odd clucking sound and then said, "I wouldn't say that I was "pumped," more or less I feel ready and I am confident that I will do well."

"Yeah…and we still have several days to get ready, we're on the third day correct?"

The Metal Trial, instead of taking just one day to be completed, is a collection of days. Each day has two matches or, team vs. team, per day. There is a match in the morning and a match in the afternoon. Since there are 32 teams left, that means that the Metal Trial will take eight days to complete.

"Correct, it is on the third day. We're on the afternoon match."

"I don't know about you but I'm sort of worried. I mean, we are facing Diamondhead's team. They're supposed to be good and I mean good."

Eaglet tossed her head from side to side half heartily, she then said, "Yeah, they maybe good but have we ever lost before hand? Every challenge that we have faced we have thoroughly beaten. We have developed such a high reputation amongst the Academy because of that. Besides, you do realize that everyone has given us the nickname of Team Nightmare?"

Ditto's mouth became thin and then he replied with, "yeah, but it is mainly thanks to our teammates. Cuttooth, Wolfy, Mummy, Sludgehammer, Vulpine…and…him."

Eaglet sucked some water into her mouth with a straw before saying, "Him?"

"You know…Tenten."

Eaglet raised a feathery eyebrow and said, "Oh. Tenten, of course."

"Of all the players on our team, he is the one that scares me the most."

"Really, if you should be scared of anyone on our team you should be frightened of Cuttooth."

"Oh I'm scared of Cuttooth believe me. It's just that…Tenten…he's a robot…"

"And that makes you uncomfortable?"

"Well, yes, because, he has no heart, no emotion. He's not alive, he's just a bunch of metal parts joined together with a battery that gives him movement. I don't know…there's just something…cold…about him."

Before Eaglet could respond to this the waiter walked up to the two of them and said, "may I take your order?"

Eaglet was the first to respond and said, "yes, I'll take the special soup of the day."

Ditto smiled and said, "Same here."

After the waiter left, Alpha Ditto looked at Eaglet and said, "You know Eaglet. We have a few things in common. It reminds me of my favorite quote, "Great minds…"

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"…think alike," finished Beta Ditto.

Stinkfly laughed and replied wittily, "true, but fools seldom differ."

Ditto closed his eyes and nodded his head, "so true, so true," he said.

After taking a drink from her Bolshevik Cocktail, Stinkfly eyed Ditto intensely while saying, "So, why didn't you ever tell me you were on…Cuttooth's…team."

Ditto, surprised by this comment, suddenly looked embarrassed. He then said, "It's not like I'm proud of that fact. I don't go around and tell everyone I meet that I'm on Team Nightmare."

"True, but you should have told it to me instead of just hiding it."

Ditto said nothing; in fact he looked even more embarrassed.

Stinkfly noticed this and said, "it's okay. I can understand why you wouldn't want to say it to everybody. However, please tell me what your team is like."

"Well…despite of having the name Team Nightmare, some of the members are not that bad."
"Such as?"

"Well…me…Eyeguy…and um…hmm…"

Ditto saw the comical look upon Stinkfly's face when he began to stall, he then quickly said, "Well! My teammates aren't bad all of the time!"

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really! Why just the other day, Cuttooth didn't threaten me!"

"Well that's good. I'm glad that Cuttooth has a heart of gold."

Ditto sensed the irony in Stinkfly's voice and replied, "Yeah, well…Cuttooth is not what you would call the kindest thing that ever swam the ocean."

"But what about that bird teammate of yours?" said Stinkfly questionably, "what's her name?"

"Oh you mean Eaglet?"

"Yes, what is she like?"

Ditto bit his lip, he then said, "She is an interesting bird…"

"How so?"

"Well…she's not kind or mean…she's more or less…indifferent. Like…all of her opinions are based off of fact and logic. It's like; all of her emotion has been drained from her soul."

"That sounds like Diamondhead."

Ditto nodded his head and said, "Indeed it does."

It was here that the waiter came by and delivered the food to them. Ditto received a deep fat fried steak while Stinkfly received a large helping of potato salad with a side of sugar cubes.

The two of them, who were very hungry by that point, quickly grabbed their forks and exclaimed, "Dig in!"

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Alpha Ditto thought it was very amusing the way that Eaglet ate her soup.

Since she didn't have any cheeks, she couldn't get her spoon into her mouth like you or I would. Instead, she would raise her head so her beak was at an angle to the ground. While having her mouth slightly open, she would take her spoon and, very carefully, lift it so that is was at the end of her mouth. She would then dump the contents into her mouth, clamp her mouth shut and then swallow it whole. She then repeated the process.

When Eaglet saw Ditto gawking at her eating habits, she put down her spoon and said, "You know, it is rude to stare."

"Oh! Right, sorry."

Ditto quickly lowered his head and he began to eat his soup at a rather fast pace despite it being almost boiling hot. After fifteen seconds, he stopped eating really fast just so his mouth could cool down. Not wanting to have another awkward silence come about, he said, "So…does your species ever use spoons when feeding?"

"Rarely, normally we like to swallow things whole. However the exception to this is when the morsel is too large. We first cut it in half with a knife and then we swallow it whole."

"Ah."

After drinking a glass of ice tea, Ditto decided that his soup needed pepper. Spotting a nearby pepper shaker, he reached over and picked it up. When he was reeling it in, his elbow accidentally knocked over his bowl of soup. His bowl of soup was so near the edge of the table that it tipped over and spilled all over Ditto's lap.

The pain of the very hot contents that was all over Ditto's lap was so big, that Ditto jumped up and began grunting very loudly in pain. His first thought was to get something to dry his pants as soon as possible. Without thinking, he grabbed his napkin and began to rub his pants furiously hoping that it would dry quickly.

Could this date get any worse?

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At that same moment, Beta Ditto made an odd yelping sound and he jumped up so fast that his chair fell over. He then began to hop up and down while cursing and rubbing his pants. While he was doing this, Stinkfly got up and ran over to him. She then said, "Ditto! What's wrong?"

Ditto apparently didn't hear her for he was saying more to himself then to her, "goddamnAlphawhatthehelldidhedo?Motherfreaking…grrrr…."

When he was done grunting he looked up and saw Stinkfly, he suddenly looked so embarrassed that his white face turned pink. Stinkfly, who was confused at what just happened, slowly said, "so…do you want to pay for the bill together or separately?"

Ditto, who wanted to crawl into the nearest hole and die, quickly said, "Oh but my dear madam, I shall pay for our eating tonight!"

"Oh that's sweet, but you don't have to Ditto."

"Ah but I insist! You made this a wonderful evening for me and I must repay you somehow."

Ditto then put his hand in his pocket to see how much money he had in his wallet. When he found nothing, he checked his other pocket and then his suit pocket. He still didn't find any wallet. Then it hit him, Alpha Ditto has the wallet and he didn't! He had to think up something fast in order to pay for the meal.

Several tables away from him, he saw a man got up from his table. By the looks of it, he might have been heading for the bathroom. As he was watching the man, Ditto was suddenly struck with an idea.

"Excuse me Stinkfly; I have to go to the bathroom."

Stinkfly nodded and she returned to her seat to finish eating her potato salad.

Ditto, then followed the man, Ditto was correct, he was heading to the bathroom. When the man entered the restroom, he waited patiently outside the door for him. When the man came out, Ditto quickly walked right into him. When he did this, he said, "oh I'm sorry, excuse me."

The man nodded and continued back to his table. Ditto continued into the bathroom and then he locked the door. He then held out his right hand and saw a black as night wallet upon it. Ditto smiled.

"Easy as pie."

He exited the bathroom with a confident walk. He smiled at Stinkfly when he sat back down. The waiter came by with the check and said, "would you like to order desert sir and madam?"

Ditto checked to see how much money was in the wallet, after checking, he said, "yes please!"

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Alpha Ditto didn't feel like eating desert. In fact, he felt like leaving.

He was looking at the fish that were swimming around in their little aquarium because he was bored out of his mind and they were the only things that he found entertaining in the restaurant.

As for Eaglet?

She was talking on her cell phone to a friend of hers. Ditto didn't know nor did he care much on what they were talking about. She was on her cell phone for about ten minutes now and showed no signs of slowing down. Ditto just wanted to pay and get out of here.

Finally, when the waiter did come Ditto quickly paid him for the meal with his wallet. He then got up and said to Eaglet, "come on, we're leaving."

Eaglet nodded and continued talking on her cell phone. She too got up and together, they went out of the restaurant and to their car.

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"…so then I said…BUT WILDVINE! THOSE AREN'T MY PANTS! HAHAHAHAHA!" exclaimed Ditto.

Stinkfly snorted and started laughing so hard that tears came to her eyes.

"Oh…my…gawd that is sooo funny!"

"Hehe…yeah…"

Ditto took a deep breath and let it all out slowly he then continued to eat his ice cream cake. The two of them were silent for a moment, then, Stinkfly said, "Ditto, I just thought of something."

"Yes?"

"Well…our team will be facing your team right in the Metal Trial right?"

"Oh the Metal Trial! I forgot all about it!" said Ditto, "yes, it starts tomorrow, though we don't fight until day three on the afternoon. So?"

"Well…what if we fight each other?"

Ditto was silent for a moment. He then said, "if we have to fight each other…we got to make sure we do our very best. We must leave behind any emotions and feelings for one another when we enter the stadium. We must not harbor any guilt, regret or sadness when we fight each other. If we do not fight at our top potential, then we would not be true to ourselves and to our team."

Stinkfly nodded, "I see…" she said slowly.

Stinkfly was silent for a several seconds before she said, "Ditto. After this tournament, we will probably never see each other again…"

"How so?"

"Well…the rules state that the losing team goes home packing and the winning team stays at the academy…so…"

"Oh…right. And no matter which way you look at it, one of us will be the loser while the other the winner."

"Ditto, after the tournament, do you think we will see each other again?"

Ditto thought about it for awhile before saying, "I think so. I mean, if I give you my address…and my country…and my planet…and my solar system…and you give me your addresses. I'm sure we'll see each other again in the near future."

"Do you really think so?"

"I do."

"Well…that makes me feel a little better…so…thank you Ditto!"

"My pleasure."

Stinkfly took a drink and said, "Mmmmm…Ditto you ought to try this! This is nectar mixed in with the scents and flavors of flower petals! It's delicious!"

"Alright, let me see that."

Stinkfly handed Ditto the drink. When the thick liquid touched the tasted buds of his mouth, he felt like he was in heaven. He loved every feeling of it, he loved how it moved across his tongue, how it had such a sweet and stupendous taste, and how it moved down his throat, it was so good, he said, "mmmmm…that IS good!"

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One minute ago…

When Ditto and Eaglet got back at the academy, Eaglet said to Ditto, "Ditto…I really had a good time so thank you for spending some of your evening with me."

"Oh…well…your welcome Eaglet. I am glad to hear that this little date of ours didn't turn out so bad after all."

Just then, Ditto tasted something so very delicious in his mouth. He had no idea what it was, but he didn't care, it tasted so good! The tasted was so powerful that he closed his eyes and said, "Mmmmmmmmm! That's good!"

"Pig! Were you checking me out?"

Ditto opened his eyes and realized to his horror on what he just said, quickly he said, "No! No I didn't mean it like that!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever, goodnight Ditto!"

And with that, Eaglet opened her wings and she flew out into the night.

Alpha Ditto sighed and began to walk home. As he was walking, he was thinking about how Beta Ditto was doing with his date…

Ten minutes later another car drove into the parking garage of the Academy. A little while later, Ditto was strolling out of it with Stinkfly linked arm to arm with him. When they were out of the parking garage, Stinkfly said to Ditto, "Ditto, I had a wonderful time! Thank you so much for taking me out to eat with you!"

"Aw, it was nothing; I just wanted to spend some personal time with you, that's all."

"Well…I had a great time…and…I'll see you later!"

Stinkfly then kissed Ditto on the cheek. Winking at him she said, "Bye!"

She then flew off into the night leaving a lovestrucked Ditto behind.