Here is the latest chapter. I remembered having Bri promise to have a slumber party with Sakura, so I figured it would make for an interesting experience. And it also proves that Ben can't do anything without something weird happening.
Chapter 13: The Sleepover
Today had been going pretty well for Ben. Part of it might've been the fact that he was here on his own terms, instead of being completely forced against his will. Sure, he still looked like a playboy, but he was actually getting used to it. It didn't bother him as much as before.
Suddenly, someone covered his eyes with their hands. He would've acted on reflex if he didn't notice the other person was shorter than him. "Hey there, Bri. Guess who?" The girl said cheerfully.
He smiled as he recognised her voice. "And hello to you too, Sakura." She giggled as she removed her hands, allowing Ben to turn and face her. Right now Sakura was leaning against the locker next to his. "What are you here for?"
"Because of your promise, of course." Sakura replied. "To come over to my house for the night." Promise? Ben didn't make any promise. Except maybe…
He groaned. Of course, the slumber party. Sakura had asked him a couple of times before, but he always managed to escape them by saying he had 'something important to do for Rias'. After his experience in the bathhouse, he knew he wouldn't be able to handle a slumber party. "Oh right. Yeah, I remember. Sakura, I'm really, really sorry, but Rias has got me doing some investigating for her."
"Oh yeah?" Sakura looked sceptical. "On what?"
"On… On, uh…" he suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "On how all the girls with large breasts are suddenly feeling ill." Genius. "Don't you think it's a bit weird about how it's only girls with big breasts? So Rias thinks it might be something supernatural."
"Then tell Rias to assign someone else to do it. Hell, I'm sure Issei would jump at the chance to investigate sexy girls." She had him there. "You keep doing work for her. It's just not healthy. Besides," She started giving a mischievous grin. Having given those enough times, Ben suddenly felt nervous. "If you don't come over to my slumber party, I might just slip to The Perverted Trio how frilly your underwear is."
Ben smirked. "You think that's going to work on me? Those three are scared of me after I threw Matsuda." Sakura just kept smiling, before showing off a very tiny camera, like something a spy would have.
"I thought that might be the case, so over the last few days I've been collecting some insurance. You know, you look good in black."
Crap. She took pictures?! "You wouldn't."
"Try me."
Ben groaned. "Fine. You win." Beaten by a girl with a camera. How humiliating.
Sakura cheered, before giving her a big hug. "Thank you, thank you! This night will be a blast! See you at 6!" And with that, she ran off, skipping as she went. Ben wanted to be mad at her. After all, she did force him against his will. But she was just too cheerful to stay mad at for long. Not to mention too adorable.
As he walked down the hall, he could here Issei getting shouted at by Matsuda and Motohama. What a pain. He should probably go and rescue him before they did something crazy.
"Are you already saying you've been monopolising Rias' real boobs under our noses?!" Motohama was yelling, earning the glare of every other girl in the class. "You damn bastard!"
"Hold on guys." Issei replied back. "Who said anything about her boobs?"
"So you are! I knew it!"
"Hey, you brought it up, not me."
Ben made sure to get their attention by slamming his hand down onto the table. Matsuda and Motohama gave him a look reserved for mass-murderers and warlord, before making a hasty retreat. Ben chuckled as they both tried to leave through the door at the same time. "Wow. I don't even need to say anything to them anymore."
"Well, the last time they talked to you, you did chase us down the street breathing fire. Thanks for the save, by the way." Issei said to him.
"No problem. In fact, I kinda need you to do me a huge favour."
"Sure. What is it?"
"Could you tell Rias that I'm occupied for the night?"
"Occupied? With what?"
"Well, remember when I told you about Sakura?" Issei nodded, motioning him to go on. "Well, she's been asking me to a slumber party for the last few weeks, and I've put it off by doing more work for Rias. Or at least, saying I had work to do. But now she's blackmailing me into going, and I can't refuse."
"Gotcha. I'll cover for you."
"Thanks Issei. And you might want to start looking into the sick girls lately."
"Sick girls?"
"I'm surprised you hadn't noticed. Girls have been away sick for the last couple of days. And everyone had big breasts. Those two can't be a coincidence."
"You're right." Now that he was looking around, it was clear he realised how many girls were away sick. "Are you worried you might come down with something?"
"Well, actually I was just using it as an excuse to get out of the party, but it could be something else. I kinda doubt this place has perverted illnesses."
"Right." Issei nodded. "I'll look into that for you. Now, I'd better get going and see what Rias cooked me for lunch. You coming?"
Ben shook his head. "Sorry, but I'm starting to get a bit behind on my school-work. Maybe I'll join you some other time."
(**/*\**)
When 6 o' clock came, Ben unwillingly packed an overnight bag and headed off to Sakura's place. He grumbled as he went, promising himself that he'd go Upgrade and erase all pictures as soon as he could. And to next time keep an eye out for any cameras. As he got to her front door, he hesitated in knocking. Maybe he could sneak back home, and ring to say he picked up that weird illness. But before he could make a decision, the door opened with a bang.
"Hey there, Bri!" Sakura cheered. "Glad you could make it. I hope you weren't planning on sneaking away, maybe pretend you got that weird bug going around." Damn. How did she guess? Ben nearly yelped as Sakura grabbed him by the arm and dragged him inside. "Well, come in and meet everyone. I invited all our friends over."
"You mean your friends." Ben laughed. Inside Rin, Kallen and Charlotte the centre mid-field were already in their pyjamas, causing Ben to start blushing from all the bared skin.
"Hey girls." Sakura called out. "Guess who I finally got to come to our party." Ben turned away from them, only to catch an eyeful as Sakura started getting changed right there. "Well come on Bri. The party can't start if you're not in your pyjamas."
"R-Right." Ben stammered. This was exactly what he had been trying to avoid. Dammit, this was completely embarrassing. The best thing Ben could do was to face the wall and change quickly. Compared to all the other girls, his pyjamas looked very boyish. Which is exactly how he wanted it.
Hey, just because he looked like a girl didn't mean he had to wear girly colours.
That look is so you." Sakura said. "You probably didn't own a girly thing in your life."
"Only when I can't avoid it." Ben countered.
Well then, now that we're all ready, how about something fun?" All of the girls started squealing in excitement. They kept shouting suggestions. Honestly, were all girls this noisy? "Ok then, by majority vote we are doing Karaoke!"
"What? Oh no. No, no. I don't sing." Before, Ben would've liked singing at a karaoke party. But he never actually tried with his new voice. He might have a horrible sense of tune now. But all the other girls ignored him, setting up the karaoke machine. Everyone had a lot of fun singing, replacing talent with noise and enthusiasm. It wasn't that they were bad, far from it. But they were only singing to have fun. To them, there was no need to take it seriously. Eventually, it was his turn. The girls kept chanting his name, while Sakura pretended to take pictures. With a loud gulp, he managed to grab the microphone with shaky hands.
"You're never getting any sharper with that, right? Then let me be the instructor for your heart." He sang. He thought he was doing ok. None of the girls were groaning, and that motivated him to keep going. "So you think you're some kind of hotshot, huh? You can't pull the wool over my eyes if that's all you got. You need to use the continuous form. 'Cause after 3 secs there's no guarantee that you keep me feeling so warm…"
(**/*\**)
That was amazing, Bri!" Sakura gushed after he finished singing. All the other girls cheered him on.
"You think so?" Ben sighed. "I was too scared to notice. I haven't actually tried singing since I went through puberty." It kinda scared him how easily he made up his past. Without looking in a mirror, he wasn't sure if his eye still twitched when he lied.
"Well, you should sing more often. Hey, maybe we could get you work as an idol? God knows you've got the figure for it."
"Thanks, but no thanks. I've got a few other hobbies instead."
"Whatever. Now, who's up for a movie?" Rin pulled a DVD out of her bag, waving it around for everyone to see. The English title was written over by Japanese Kanji, making it difficult for him to read what it was called. "My cousin from America got this imported for me. Unfortunately, his supplier isn't that good at dubbing." Kallen grabbed the DVD so she could have a look at the picture. Something about it made her smile.
"Rin, this film will still be perfect."
(**/*\**)
Ben was in Hell.
Rin had been right, the dub was terrible. Whoever did it hadn't even removed all the English from it when they went over in Japanese, so he was forced to hear and process both languages at once. And he finally understood why the other girls still liked it.
"Antonio's going to rip his shirt in 3, 2, 1…" All the girls squealed as the sexy actor ripped his shirt off – for the seventh time – to blind some other sexy guy and throw him into the wall. Honestly. Even if it was a girl doing it, Ben would've gotten tired after the tenth scene where everyone lost their clothes all at once.
His head twinged again, and he stood up. "I need a drink." He said, and left the girls to their 'porno'. He took a couple of sips from a glass, before pouring the whole lot over his head to cool it down. Then, he subtly used Water Hazard to draw away the excess moisture, leaving him dry again. It didn't take much effort to decide to stay out in the kitchen. The movie was hurting his brain as he had sat there watching it.
Is this what all girls do at slumber parties? He wondered. Just watch videos of sexy guys? Where are the pillow fights, and tickle fights, and make-up and dress-up? Great, now he's starting to sound like Issei. He was about to go back – and pretend to watch the movie – when he heard branches snapping outside. He went on high alert, remembering how something weird was going on in town. He leaned closer to the window, using Wildmutt's powers to get a better view of the outside. He couldn't pick up anything on sonar, but their seemed to be a bigger patch of heat than usual. It rustled, breathed deeply, started moving…
"Enjoying the movie, Bri?" Sakura whispered, hugging him from behind. But to his modified ears, she was practically shouting at him. He squealed, nearly throwing her through the wall, and turned round to face her, remembering the feel of her hands on his breasts. She backed away, her hands raised to show no aggression. "I didn't think it was your thing."
Ben tried to calm his racing heart. "And what makes you so sure?" He asked as he reached for his glass again. "Not that I'm saying I do like it. Too many guys for me."
"Bet you'd like it if they were all girls, huh?" Ben spat out his mouthful of water, nearly choking as he realised what she had said. "You're not exactly subtle about it, Bri. Whenever I see you in the changing rooms, you're always blushing like crazy and looking anywhere but the other girls."
"I-I'm just s-s-self-conscious." He stammered. "You know, because of puberty. I was a lot smaller before. Like, way smaller."
Sakura shook her head. "But there's other clues too. You don't like guys, with the exception of Issei and Kiba; you wear the most boyish clothes you can. And," She continued over his attempt to explain both conclusions. "You slip into saying 'boku' and 'ore' when you get flustered."
Ben sighed, and started muttering. Goddamn stupid gender-specific language, and goddamn gods. If he had been taught the language instead of having it force-fed into his brain, he might not have slipped up like that.
"It's fine." Sakura said, stepping almost nose to nose with him. "You see, that's not my kind of movie either." What does she…? Oh. Ohhh. Well, that's both convenient and awkward. "I tried to like guys, really. If you talked to any other students, they'd tell you how I was a serial-dater when I was younger. But I always found guys too hard and solid and smelly. Not like girls. They're so beautiful, and soft, and they smell so nice."
"Ah… When did… When did you realise you…?"
"Last year. But even though I like girls, none have ever been perfect for me. The nice one weren't beautiful, and the beautiful ones were either mean or taken. And then you came along. You were so beautiful, even when I had knocked you to the ground and buried you under bags. And when we spoke, you were so kind, asking me about soccer. None of the other girls I liked ever talked about sports. And then you came to my game, when Rin got hurt. And you were so skilled at Soccer. I've played for years, and I'd never be that good. Not to mention brave you are, when you chased down Saikan and stopped him from hurting our team anymore."
"Me? I didn't do anything. A-a ghost got…"
"Please. Everyone on the team knows that it was you. We've all been wondering how to thank you. And now I finally get you to come over, and your singing is so wonderful." She got a bit to close and hugged him. "And you're so soft. It's like holding onto a teddy bear. You're everything I could want in a girlfriend."
This had gone on long enough. Ben had to let her down gently. He gently, but firmly, pushed her away to give himself space. "Sakura, I like you too. You're a good friend. But, you see, I've already got someone." She looked so surprised, while he tried to spin his story as best as he could while getting as close to the truth as possible. "Her name is Ester, and she's really pretty and nice. You'd get along pretty well with her if you guys ever met."
"So have you slept together?" Ben nearly fainted when she asked that.
"No! No, no! Because, well… You see… It's just…" He sighed. This was all going so wrong. "I…never really…told her…that I'm…a-a girl."
"What? But look at you. You have to be blind to not realise you're a girl."
"We started dating before puberty hit me. Back then, I just looked like a really girly boy. She's part of a… Native American tribe, and they made her their chief. So she had been back in her lands when I finally hit puberty. And we didn't really see each other before I transferred here."
"When were you planning on telling her?"
"I-I don't know. I liked being with her."
"Didn't you think she deserved to know the truth?"
"Well, yes. But I… I just… What if she didn't like girls? What if I had to let her go? And how do I even tell her? O I just call up and go 'Hey Ester, I'm actually a girl. Want to keep dating me?'"
"Bri, there have been plenty of girls I liked who had the wrong orientation. The best thing to do is to let her go, because otherwise you'll just be hurting each other. You need someone who loves you back for who you are, not who you're pretending to be." She kept getting closer and closer, pressing herself against Ben. She leaned in, her lips ready for a kiss, and…
"I can't." Ben whispered. "It just wouldn't be fair on her."
Sakura backed away, slightly crestfallen. "I understand. This is probably a bit much for you."
He smiled at her. "Can we still be friends? I like being friends with you."
Sakura nodded. "If I can't be your girlfriend, then I can at least be your girl friend." Their moment was ruined by all the other girls groaning and moaning. Ben and Sakura jumped away from each other, Ben swearing as he realised he had been pressed hard up against the counter.
"We were so sure you were both going to say yes." Rin whined.
"Bri! You ruined the moment!" Kallen scolded him. "You both would've been perfect for each other."
"How- how long have you guys been there?" Sakura asked, panting in fright.
"Pretty much the whole time. You're not that much better at being subtle than Bri was. The whole team knows you like girls."
"So I figured that while we were watching hot guys being half-naked, you two could go and ask each other out. We weren't expecting Bri to say no, you jerk." She gave Ben a strong glare.
Sakura giggled. "I actually kinda like that. It shows that she's not going to just cheat on someone because they're not here. That's some good integrity." Ben felt relieved, until he saw that she had her 'evil grin' back on.
"You're still going to punish me, aren't you?" He asked, his heart plummeting.
"Oh, you bet I am."
(**/*\**)
"You know, I thought having to watch sweaty, half-naked guys speak in two languages at once was torture." Ben said. "But this? This is torture."
"Lighten up Bri." Sakura replied. "It's just make-up." Everyone giggled when they saw Ben's expression. "It's not like we're hurting you." And at that, she ripped off the wax strip on his leg. Ben screamed as he felt part of his skin being ripped off with the strip. "That's funny. I don't actually see any hair on your legs. Oopsies." Ben satisfied himself with thinking or all the ways he could hurt them in revenge. He yelled as Kallen ripped out a hangnail.
"Geez, Bri." She muttered. "Don't you ever take care of your fingernails? They're just so ragged." She applied a layer of nail polish to his nails. "Let me tell you, you're not going to impress any girl if you've got a guy's hygiene problems."
"Leave her alone, Kallen." Rin replied, ignoring Ben nearly choking on all the powder she was applying to his face. "Maybe that Ester girl liked her like this." Rin started doodling with a beauty pen while Sakura finished painting his toenails, then they all backed away and grabbed a mirror. "Ta-da!" They chanted, revealing Ben's new look. He looked…He looked…
"I look like a dork." Ben deadpanned, watching them try to stifle their giggling. Rin had applied way too much make-up, making him look stupid. His face was completely white, while Rin had pretty much smeared lipstick all over his cheeks. Add the fact that she had shaded his eyelids completely black and he almost looked like a…
"Where's a towel?" He asked very quickly. He needed it. He needed it now, before he went completely crazy in fear. "I want that towel. I need that towel." Kallen handed it to him, heedless of the panic boiling under the surface. He quickly started wiping at his face, leaving him with a messed-up smear. The girls all started laughing at him, but he didn't care. At least he didn't look like a clown anymore. "Well, I guess you've had your fun. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to get this monstrosity off my face."
"Ok, but don't try to escape." Sakura yelled after him as he stalked off to find a bathroom. "We've got more plans for you."
Ben muttered as he washed off every last trace of make-up, then he just stood there until his heart stopped racing. If anyone had been in there, they might've seen the tears on his face. "I can't believe it. I'm an intergalactic superhero. I've faced monsters and aliens of all kinds. I should not be breaking down over a fear of clowns." He remembered how he managed to beat his fear when Gwen had been threatened by a 'goofball emotional vampire clown' named Zombozo. But over the years that fear managed to come back. Just in time for Zombozo to turn everyone in Bellwood into Zombie Clowns. He shuddered. No one here was to ever know he had a fear of clowns. No one. He sighed as he wondered what to do now. He wasn't ready to go back to their torture session.
He gasped as he had an idea. The camera. That was what forced him here in the first place. If he got rid of the pictures, then Sakura couldn't force him here against his will. He liked her as a friend, but he wanted to have a choice in whether or not he came. Quickly, he changed into Ghostfreak, phasing through the walls until he came across her bedroom. He then quickly changed into Upgrade and slithered around, seeking out anything technological. Eventually, he found it in her school bag. Without wasting a second, he merged with it, searching through the memory for any incriminating pictures. And…Whoa. She had taken a lot of pictures. Of him getting changed, of him in his underwear, of him topless, of him without any pants. And a few more… personal photos. Ignoring the others, he quickly deleted any photos that included him. Now that that was done, he slithered back out into the kitchen. If Sakura was looking for him, he could say he was getting another drink. As he went to head back into the living room, he heard some clanging from the sink. Odd. Might be something supernatural. He tiptoed over slowly, boosting his strength just in case. The clanging kept getting louder as he got closer, until he was surprised that the others hadn't heard it. But his last step was on an old floorboard. It gave a loud creak, and the banging stopped. Ben held his breath, fist ready to smash. But after about a minute, he finally conceded. He went to step away, confident that everything was normal.
Until he was grabbed from behind by some tentacle.
They wrapped tightly around his mouth, gagging him as they wound around his limbs. Despite the alien powers, without contact with the ground he was unable to break free. He changed his tongue into Upchuck, and ate the tentacle around his head. He then used his loogies to blast more tentacles, but more wrapped him up again. One tentacle was now wrapped tightly around his breasts, while another was worming its way into his pants. He thought about how easy it would be to fight this with blades. And then giant spikes erupted from his arms, severing the tentacles with ease. He then used them to slice off the ones wrapped around the rest of him before dropping down to safety.
"Alright then, monster." He growled as he pulled the wriggling appendage out of his shorts. "You are in for a world of hurt." The tentacles tried to bind him again, but his body had changed even more. Now there were large blades extending from his shins, and he could hear claws clinking together. He felt himself move faster, and slice a path through to the heart. Any that got too close was left bleeding on the floor, until the remaining tentacles slithered back through the drain in defeat. Having chased it off, Ben finally got a good look at himself.
His arms and legs were covered in black carapace, with 2 feet-long, curved yellow blades on each limb. His hands and feet were spindly, and tipped with long yellow claws. As he looked at his reflection in the window, he saw that his chest was smaller and more streamlined, while black lines swirled around solid yellow eyes. This was unlike anything he had ever seen before.
His admiration was broken by screaming coming from the bathroom. He rushed there faster than normal, and could now recognise the voice. Charlotte. She was swearing in French while she screamed, until she suddenly started moaning in what might've been pleasure. And sure enough, when he sliced the bathroom door open, her clothes were in disarray. Her pyjama bottoms were now lying abandoned on the floor and her top was wide open at the zip, while tentacles came out of the toilet and rubbed her breasts while plunging into her…
Save her first, then you can see her privates. Ben scolded himself while blushing, making sure to be careful where he sliced. The last thing he wanted was to sever one of her limbs. But she wasn't making things easy, occasionally kicking out when the tentacles touched a sensitive spot. As he sliced the last tentacle, she dropped onto the toilet, moaning as the remains of the monster rubbed between her legs as it slithered away.
"Oh Dieu." She moaned for a moment before noticing Ben. "Bri? Qu'est-ce que l'enfer?"
More screams echoed through the house. "I'll explain later." Ben told her before rushing off to the living room. When he got there, it was quite a site.
There were even more tentacles than before. And they were wrapped around the girls and undressing them. But the girls were fighting back with anything they had at hand. Rin was using some clippers to slice at the tentacles, while Sakura was waving around a pair of scissors. She finally spotted Ben in the doorway. "Bri! These things have got Kallen!" And sure enough, Kallen was getting dragged through the front door. She was barely holding onto the door frame leading to the front hallway, and her grip was slipping. Ben quickly rushed in, using his speed to reach the heart of the limbs and start slicing with abandon. Now that he was closer, he could hear the monster shriek in pain. But this time, the monster was smart enough to cut its losses and run. Ben wanted to chase it, but he also had to make sure the others were alright. He rushed back in, and was greeted by a pretty nasty sight.
It seemed that when the limbs were cut off, they started bleeding everywhere. Purple blood was on the walls, on the ceiling, on the furniture. And on all the girls. They were currently sitting there in a daze, trying their best to cover themselves with what's left of their pyjamas. Sakura's parents were going to raise hell over this.
"Bri?" Sakura asked. "What is all this? What's going on? What was that thing?" She finally seemed to notice his body. He tried to hide them, but it was too late. "Wh-Wh-What the hell are you?!"
"Calm down. I'm not a threat." He made sure to speak slowly and have his hands in front of him. "I'm just a normal person."
"Normal? Normal people don't have bl-bl-blades sticking out of their…" She grabbed hold of a small statuette and waved in at him with shaky hands. "Stay away from me! I-I-I won't hesitate to use this on you."
"Breathe." He told her. "Sakura, you're in shock. Just take deep breaths, and take a moment to calm down." He sat down on a clean chair, making sure to move slowly so as to not startle them. He didn't realise how freaky and terrifying this would look to them. I mean, they thought of Animo as a demon. Ben must look just as scary. Sakura kept glaring at him, but eventually she followed his advice. Her hands stopped shaking so much, and she eventually dropped the statuette. "Good." He said. "Now, I'm going to fix your clothes for you. It will be completely harmless." They still jumped as his arm changed into a familiar rotund gold limb. As he pointed it at them, rips and tears and stains faded away like magic. As they marvelled over how new their clothes looked, he slowly and carefully stepped closer.
"Ok." Sakura said, taking a deep breath. "What the hell are you Bri? And don't try to pretend you're normal. You wandered in here looking like a demon, with spikes and black skin and…" She calmed herself by taking another breath. Ben decided he couldn't help them by keeping quiet. Or gassing them. He might get rid of all the info he would need.
"Ok, I'm not normal." He answered. "But I was once. I found a device that allowed me to turn into aliens. But now it's fused with me, so I can access parts of my forms on the fly."
Sakura nodded. "What the hell was that?"
"I don't know. I also haven't got a clue what it was after. All I can tell is that it wanted Kallen."
"Yeah, we kinda figured that." She snarked. He nearly cheered. Snarking was good. It showed she was calming down. At some point Charlotte had wandered back in, her pants conspicuously wet. "Well now what? Are we going to have to stay awake in case that thing comes back? Or is there someone we can call? I mean, it's not like we can track it."
"Actually," Ben answered, a smirk on his face. "I can track it."
(**/*\**)
I can't believe we're doing this." Rin said as they followed Wildmutt. "We shouldn't be tracking the scary monster that tried to rape us. That's what those idiots do in hentai. We should be going to the police, and letting them handle it."
"And what would we say?" Sakura retorted, her fire rekindled. "'Hello officer. My friends and I were just attacked by a tentacle creature that tried to fuck us and kidnap our sexy friend?' They'd think we were high or something. Besides, Bri took care of it easily enough. Although, I'm not too sure about following an overgrown blind dog-thing." Ben turned to face her, giving her a low moaning growl. "I'm just saying, can't you be something that can talk? I feel like you're leading us to an old shoe or something."
Ben shook his head before grabbing the Omnitrix. As he turned it, his orange fur turned a deep red, with a black-and-white stripe of spikes on top like a spine. He grew in size until he twice his original size. Finally, he grew a long tail with a single stinger on it. As he turned around, he saw the girls had backed away, hiding behind each other.
"Happy now?" He said in a deep, growling voice. "Trust me, even with all the other smells, that thing stands out like you wouldn't believe." He went back to following the trail, only 'looking' back to make sure the others were following him. He couldn't blame them obviously. This is probably one of the few times he's had to work with people who weren't in the know about something or another. He'd probably be scared too if he was them.
Eventually the trail led them to an old abandoned warehouse in the outskirts of the city. The others hopped off his back, shivering in the cold. Ben used his new strength to open up the doors, revealing a visible trail of slime. At least he could use something more subtle. He changed back to normal, shivering slightly until he tapped into Heatblast's body temperature. They 5 of them walked deeper into the warehouse, following the trail as best as they could. They found that the trail ended at a series of stone blocks, which proved to be easy to move if you knew they were there. By the moonlight, they could see that the monster had gone down some stairs.
"Do we have to follow it?" Rin asked. "We can't see a thing. It might be waiting down there, ready to grab a beautiful girl and make her it's sex slave."
"How do you know so much about hentai stories?" Charlotte asked her.
"I caught a glimpse at my brother's collection."
"Sounds like more than just a 'glimpse'." They shut up as Ben changed into Heatblast, sighing as they warmed themselves against his body. Desperate to stay warm, they followed him down the stairs, even if some of them complained. Ben almost stepped in the blood before realising it might be flammable, and so turned down his transformation. Now, only one arm and his head were on fire. Good enough to light the way.
"C'mon." He said. "This isn't a hentai, it's a super-hero story."
(**/*\**)
"Uh." Kallen moaned. "Are we there yet? My feet are killing me."
"What?" Rin replied, incredulous. "But you wanted to go down here in the first place."
"No. I wanted to go home. But I'm pretty sure that this thing isn't going to leave me alone, so here we are."
"Well, we should just go back home, and let the professionals handle this."
"What professionals? I doubt this is normal stuff. There's no job that requires handling ghoulies and monsters from the deep." Sakura tuned their argument out after a while, focusing only on Bri. She was their hero. She was their guardian. Their way out.
But she couldn't really trust her anymore. Bri was some kind of demon, and she lied to them. I mean, aliens. Everyone knows there's no such thing as aliens. But then again, a small part of her said, there's no such things as monsters is there? Her whole world had been turned upside down in one night. There were things that went bump in the night. There were creatures that would take her, like in those disgusting hentai boys seemed to watch so much. And it nearly… it nearly…
Bri noticed her shivering. She offered her hand, giving Sakura that sweet, gentle smile she loved so much. Sakura clung to her arm like it was a lifeline. Her whole body was aflutter from being so close. She could feel the lithe, but strong muscles in her arm, the softness of her back, the sweet aroma of her hair, and the warmth of her body through their thin pyjamas.
She still remembered when they had first met. When she had been juggling the soccer ball and accidently kicked it into her head, and had to help pull Bri out. Her skin seemed to glow with her inherent beauty, while her voice was the choir of angels. And she had been so kind, not even faulting her for her clumsiness. Plus, she knew about soccer. Hardly any other girls she liked knew anything about soccer. If only she was available. Her mind was now filled with dreams of their married life. Bri would be the bread-maker, the most sought-after player in woman's soccer. America and Japan would be crawling over each other to have her represent them in the Olympics. Meanwhile, she would be home, cooking up a storm of food for her honey-bunny, and looking after their 3 adopted children. And every day, she'd smile that beautiful smile of hers, and later on they'd make love to each other.
If she is a demon, then I could do so much worse.
She was jogged out of her fantasies when Bri came to a sudden stop, her burning arm held straight up with her hand closed. Everyone stopped talking as she turned down the flames until they could barely see, and someone grabbed hold of Sakura's hand. Bri dragged the chain of girls further down the hallway, careful where she placed her feet. By now, Sakura realised what she had noticed. At the end of the corridor, a light glimmered and threw large, spindly shadows at them. She started panicking, breathing heavily and clutching Bri's arm even tighter. Apart from a grunt of pain, Bri didn't react at all. She just kept going until she was right at the corner. Sakura shook herself out of her panic attack. She had to be brave She had to be brave. Bri was going up against these…things without being afraid, and so could she. Closer, closer. She could do this. Closer, closer. She ignored the fact she was soaked in sweat and trembling. Closer, closer. Oh god, she felt like she was going to puke. Closer, closer. She wanted her teddy bear and a blanket. Closer, closer. She was now right by Bri's side. She took a deep breath, inched her way around to look at the unholy monsters and…
And… she saw a bunch of nerds in black cloaks eating takeaways and reading porno.
"Those jerks." She hissed. "I can't believe it. I was giving myself a heart-attack over them." She felt Rin, Kallen and Charlotte squeeze past her to look at the losers, blanching as they noticed some of them were masturbating. But Kallen was looking at them in dawning comprehension.
"I know those…" She nearly shouted until Bri put her hand over her mouth and dragged her back behind the wall. Given they weren't shouting, none of the nerds must've heard her. "I know those guys." Kallen whispered after Bri removed her hand. "Ichika, Kariya, Shuuto. They're all guys I've caught stalking me."
"How many stalkers do you even have?" Bri asked incredulously. Everyone else was wondering too.
"Uh." Kallen looked really nervous. "Enough to form a cult?"
"We noticed." Everyone hissed at her. She nearly shrunk under their gaze.
"Ok, arguing isn't getting us anywhere." Bri finally said. "We'll just go in there, finish off their monster, threaten them into leaving us alone, then we can go back to Sakura's and put this whole night behind us." She smirked as she started growing the black skin and spikes she had before. "Time for them to meet my new friend, Ripperjack."
(**/*\**)
Ben used his speed and his black scales to sneak around to a better position. While he was doing that, he made sure to keep an eye out for that monster from before. If he was some kind of tentacle thing, he'd probably want revenge for his missing limbs too. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary – which included the bunch of guys in black cloaks, God he's been at this too long – he decided to make sure he had everyone's attention. He didn't want them finding the girls and using them against him. All the nerds were currently drooling over one magazine, and were busy telling each other the disgusting things they'd do to the poor girl they were looking at. That all changed when Ben fired a spike out of his arm through the magazine.
Whoa. That was unexpected.
"Alright you creeps," He said. "Time to pay for what you…"
"AAAAHHHH!" The nerds screamed. "Momo's injured! Medic!" All the guys started fretting, shouting out for tape and glue and other stuff. "You're going to pay for that; weird cloaked…lady…thing…" One of them finally noticed his new appearance. He was a bit taller than normal, with long spindly limbs. His blades had grown to be at least 3-4 feet long, while his claws were accompanied by another spike producing over his hands. His chest area was almost impossibly tiny, except for the chest area of course. His face was covered by markings resembling flames, while his eyes were a solid red. He had wing-like things covering him like a longcoat, and underneath it he wore a green bodysuit that stopped just short of his arms and legs. In fact, it would be more accurate to call it a swimsuit. "What the hell are you?"
Ben smiled as an idea came to him. "Come on guys. You don't think the demons were the only things out there. Let's just say that someone is a little 'upset' with your attack. And I'm here to discourage you in any way possible." He noticed that they were all smiling at him. Well, smirking. He's been in enough fights to know that meant something big and nasty was right behind him. He dodged forward, just in time to avoid being splattered. The nerds paled as he rushed them. Ben realised that he probably looked like he was going to turn them into meatloaf or something. He jumped overhead and turned to look at his enemy. It was the tentacle monster, but bigger and nastier than before. It screeched in rage at him, probably remembering how much he maimed it. It fired off all its tentacles at him, knocking over all the nerds in the process. Ben dodged them with ease, slicing off a few that got a bit too close. But they were already growing back. Ben growled as he dodged another lash and fired several spikes at it. Dammit. Why won't this stupid thing just go down? Normally he'd use Heatblast to burn it to charcoal, but he still wasn't sure how much stronger he had gotten. The only person he used it on was a Phenex. For all he knew, he might set the whole place on fire and kill the cult. Sure they were creepy, but they didn't deserve to die because of that. But what else could he use?
He tripped as something wrapped around his ankle. As he tried to get back up, his other ankle and his arm was grabbed. Stupid, stupid. While he had been thinking about what to do, the monster had used his inattention to surprise him. He struggled and sliced as best as he could, but it now knew enough to keep away from his blades. To his annoyance, several tentacles started ripping his suit off. Really, did this form even have private parts? And what was this thing's interest in groping girls? He was just about to change into Big Chill, when something smashed into the tentacles holding him. As he dropped, he could see that it was… a soccer ball?
"Hey ugly!" Sakura yelled as she ran past. "Get your slimy tentacles off her!" It roared and tried to grab her, but she weaved underneath it and slammed the ball into another clump of tentacles. It roared in pain again as the soccer ball flew through the air. "Remember girls, just like practise!"
"Right!" Kallen shouted back as she kicked the ball again. While the monster was busy chasing after her, Ben used this moment to slice through some more tentacles. It roared as it reached for him, but that just gave Charlotte time to line up another shot. The roar this time was higher-pitched than before. Guess she got it in the sweet-spot.
"Bri- I mean, Ripper-thingy!" Rin shouted as she ran past. "I saw a face behind all these tentacles!"
"Good going, Rin!" Ben shouted back. "Knock it silly!" All of them charged in, yelling a heroic battle-cry as they dodged more tentacles. Ben was more successful than the others, but he managed to free them with a few well-placed spikes. They dribbled the ball between each other, before setting up a combo that ended with Sakura smashing the ball into the biggest clump of tentacles. As it roared again, Ben finally saw its head. It looked very much like a Venus Fly-trap, with loads of sharp teeth and big lips. He suddenly had a thought about a cool move, and wanted to try it out. And if it doesn't work, he could always go Heatblast and fry it inside-out. He ran forward as fast as he could, before jumping into a spin attack. As he sailed through the air like a drill, the monster tried to eat him. He was fortunately rewarded by sailing clean through it, a large hole through its head. The creature made a keening noise for a few seconds, before collapsing to the ground. The tentacles started dissolving into green goo. Ben made sure that everyone moved away from the goo as it faded. Knowing their luck, this thing probably eats clothes. They all cheered at the sight of the monster dying. Without their teamwork, Ben might've lost.
"And just where are you lot going?" Ben asked the nerds, who were trying to sneak out while they were busy celebrating. They turned fearfully towards him, groaning when they saw he was wearing his suit again. There was no way he was interrogating them while naked.
"Please, Demon lady." One of them whimpered. "We're really sorry. We just wanted our idol, that's all."
"What?" Rin shouted at them. "You were trying to kidnap Kallen so you could keep worshipping her? Bri, kick their asses." She yelped as Sakura slapped her in the head, but the damage was done. The nerds were gazing at Ben in awe.
"Bri Tennyson? One of the School Idols? Said to be really strong and smart, and beautiful as a goddess?" The nerds started whispering to themselves. Ben sighed as he turned back to normal. No point hiding who he was.
"Alright, so I'm not a demon." He said. "But that still doesn't change the fact that you guys are going to never do this again. Or else I'll put each and every one of you losers into the hospital. Got it?"
"Yes, oh mighty goddess." The nerds replied, staring at him with love-struck eyes. It was kinda creepy.
"Good. Now, get!" He used Armadrillo's power to shake the ground, causing the nerds to start running off as fast as they could. As he changed his arm back to normal, he smiled at the girls.
"Let's get back to normal stuff."
(**/*\**)
Ben yawned as he started getting changed out of his school swimsuit. Last night had been crazy, even after dealing with the cult. All the girls, while thankful for his help, had been still scared of him. But then again, he did take on the appearance of a bladed monster. That would scare anyone. It had been all too soon when their alarms went off, and then they had to clean up all the mess. Well, he had to clean it all up. By himself.
And then when he saw the Club, he found out he wasn't the only one with an exciting night. It turned out that the sickness was related to the Devil creep they had caught the other night. It turned out that he had created a chimera plant-monster that somehow drained the spiritual energy from girls' breasts. Then, it used that energy to grow fruit that could give girls bigger boobs. He had to ask again to make sure they weren't joking. If he had been there, he could've used Swampfire to control the beast, maybe even destroy it. At the very least, he could've stopped it from fighting back. But they managed to kill it on their own, and apart from Issei being a pervert, things went smoothly. Koneko had gone back to the park to dig him out of the hole they dropped him in as punishment for trying to save the monster. So, a nerdy cult, a tentacle monster and a breast monster. Sounds like a normal night's work for them. And at least that cult won't be bothering anyone else again.
He opened his locker, looking up and down it before he finally realised something was missing.
"Hey, has anyone seen my underwear?"
Well, there we go. Looks like Bri's got a fan-club.
Sorry this took a while. I was busy writing for my latest story 'Rise of the Guardians: Shadow of Death'. I don't know if I'm allowed to advertise other stories on my stories, but since it's kinda lost amongst all the other Rise of the Guardians fanfics, I don't know how else to make my reader become aware of it. So enjoy my work, have a look at it, and tell me what you think.
Also, that song Bri sang is the English lyrics for Season 1's ending song.
See you next time.
Edit: Forgot to talk about Ripperjack. He's a new alien I made up, because Ben is sorely lacking in aliens that can cut things up. I know it's because of Bloodless Carnage, but he's still only got one or two forms. The name is a play on Lumberjack and Jack the Ripper. I'm not an artist, so I can't draw you a picture, but here's how I imagined him. Look up 'The Eviserator' on the Ratchet and Clank Wiki. Give him female features and face. Dress him up in a duster. Now you get an idea of what Ripperjack looks like.