Chapter 24: Life and Death
I Don't Own Ben 10 or Any of the Respective Characters, The Rights Belong to Man of Action Studios and Cartoon Network
Author's Note:
* Hello and welcome to Chapter Twenty Four of the reboot!
* So, I just want to say that this chapter will turn out to be quite different from the original story. I put a lot of thought into how I wanted this to go, so I hope you all enjoy.
* Also, sorry for no post last week. Thanks to the aforementioned summer cold that I caught, I ended up sleeping a lot and now that I've gotten better, I need to be looking for a new job. So, unfortunately, I can't put in as much time into this story as I usually would be able to. However, I will still try my best to maintain Friday uploads, because that was the general idea when I started this story.
* To make up for the lack of no chapter last week, similar to a couple of weeks ago, I'll post two chapters this evening.
* I don't really have anything to say in regards to this chapter, so let's get right into it!
Earth Prime
Seven Years Ago – 2011
The Tennyson House
Ben
"Give me the controller, Gwen!" I exclaimed as I grabbed it while it was still in her hands.
"Just one more turn!" Gwen said as she tried to keep her grip on the controller.
"Hey, my Nintendo, my turn!" I exclaimed as I continued to pull on the controller. "Now, hand it over!"
"Oops." She said as she let go of the controller while I was forcefully pulling on it, causing me to fall backwards.
I looked up at her from my place on the floor, to see her grinning from ear to ear in response to me falling over backwards.
"What'd you do that for?!" I exclaimed, growing even more angry.
Gwen just shrugged.
"You said that you wanted your controller back, so I gave it back to you." she replied as she laughed.
"You are such a brat!"
"And you are annoying! What's your point?"
"My point is you don't play well with others, you spoiled brat!"
Gwen looked back at me with a surprised expression.
"Oh, I'm the spoiled one?" Gwen asked as she pointed toward herself, before taking a look around the room. "What about all this nice furniture, the flat screen T.V, the Nintendo, plus the Xbox you're getting for your birthday? How am I the spoiled one?"
"Oh, shut up!"
"Okay, now you're being the brat." Gwen said as she frowned. "I know how to play well with others. You on the other hand, don't know how to share. Sharing is caring!"
"They taught you that in school, didn't they?"
"You know it's the truth." She replied as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Get out." I whispered.
"Excuse me?"
"Get out of my basement, Gwen. I don't want you here."
"What are you saying?"
"Don't make me say it."
"What are you saying?" she asked again, sounding impatient this time.
"Get out Gwen! I hate you!"
Gwen looked speechless. She looked like she wanted to cry. But eventually, instead of crying, she just frowned.
"Well, fine then!" she exclaimed as she whipped around and stormed off. "I never want to see you again!"
"Fine! I never want to see you again!"
"Fine!" Gwen exclaimed as she stormed up the stairs.
I remained in the basement after she went upstairs, probably to tattle on me to my parents. It wasn't until sometime later that I would come to regret every word I said that day. Even now, the blood in my veins chills when I think back to what we said to each other that day.
Present Day – Tuesday, June 5th, 2018
Julie Yamamoto's Apartment
I stared up at the ceiling, after waking up from the dream. I had woken up from the dream about halfway through the memory and I was forced to relive it while I was awake. I sat up, as I covered my eyes. I had been so mean, so hurtful that day, and for reasons that I didn't know. As I continued lying there on the couch, I heard footsteps. I turned my head, to see Julie walking down the hall.
"Hey, how did you sleep last night?" she asked.
I shrugged as I slowly sat up.
"I guess I slept okay." I replied with a sigh. "What time is it?"
"It's past noon."
"I slept for that long?"
"Don't forget that you were shot. Are you hungry?"
"Yes."
"I'll take you wherever you want to eat. My treat."
I nodded.
"I would like that. Thank you."
"No problem. Now, let's get you a fresh change of clothes before we go."
Seven Years Ago – December, 2011
The Tennyson House
"—Happy birthday, dear Ben! Happy birthday to you!" my relatives sang.
I looked around the room. All of my relatives and friends were here, except for Gwen, her brother and their parents. I looked up at my mom.
"Why isn't Gwen here?" I asked in a sad tone.
My mom and dad exchanged glances, before my father spoke.
"When we extended the invitation to Gwen's parents, they told us that she didn't want to come up. Something about her being angry with you."
I looked back at the cake with the ten candles as tears began to form in my eyes and I couldn't do anything besides putting my hands over my eyes as I began to cry.
Present Day – Tuesday, June 5th, 2018
Downtown Bellwood, The Riverfront
"Julie, why are you bringing me all the way out here?" I asked as I got out of her car.
"Because," she replied. "there's someone that I want you to meet."
We were currently parked in a small parking area within the Docks and Warehouses District of Downtown Bellwood, next to one of the warehouses in question, so I think I was within my rights to be confused. And to be honest, what she said in response made me have a bit of an internal panic. She must have noticed this, however.
"It's okay," she spoke. "my friend is a trustworthy person and he will keep your secret."
After she told me that, I calmed down a little bit.
"So, who is this guy?"
"He's friendly, don't worry. And he's someone kind of like you. I get the feeling that you'll need all the help that you can get with your vigilante stuff."
I followed her as we approached the front door of the warehouse, where she came to a stop. She spoke as she turned to look at me.
"Okay, pay attention to me, because this part is important. If you ever need to come up here without me, you need to knock on the door in the tune of "shave and a haircut, two bits", otherwise he won't answer. He's very secretive about what he does here."
Shave and a haircut, two bits? I know the tune, I think, but I'm not sure I see the need to jump through so many hoops to get into this place.
"Like this."
She then knocked on the door in that tune as she described to me. Eventually, I heard the sound of multiple locks being unlocked from the other side and the front door opened, but only slightly and I couldn't even see the person on the other side. I heard him whispering, however, I could hear exactly what he was saying.
"Julie? What are you doing here? Who's that guy behind you? I told you to never bring anybody up here!"
"Come on, Cooper." She whispered back. "Don't give me that. I come up here every chance I get. It would be better if we spoke inside I promise he won't cause you any trouble. Can you let us in, please?"
I could tell that he really didn't want to let a stranger inside the warehouse, because he didn't say anything.
"Cooper, please," Julie whispered to him once more. "I promise you that he's on the level. I wouldn't have brought him here if he wasn't."
He still seemed hesitant about letting me into the warehouse, but he finally caved in and opened the door all the way. This guy, Cooper, he looked a bit older than me and he was a bit taller than me, too. He almost had shoulder length blonde hair, had on blue work coveralls and underneath that he wore a discolored T-shirt, along with brown work boots and goggles covering his eyes.
Real charming, I thought to myself.
"Thank you." Julie replied in a louder tone.
She turned to me and gestured for me to follow her. I did so, albeit a bit nervously. We both followed Cooper into the warehouse, which was mostly dark on the inside, except for two active lights by the door. Once we were inside, Cooper shut the door and locked it once again.
"Seriously, Julie, who is this guy?" he asked as he turned to look at us.
In turn, Julie turned to me.
"Go on and explain yourself, Ben." she said.
Really? Just like that? She can't possibly be serious.
But she was, because she looked at me with a determined look on her face, albeit with a smile, too, and nodded at me. I sighed before I finally spoke as I turned to look at Cooper, who in turn looked back at me with suspicion.
"Um, I'm Alien Guy." I replied with hesitation in my voice.
He gave me a funny look before responding.
"You sound hesitant. I'm not sure I believe you. Anyone could claim to be Alien Guy."
"I'm sorry. I hadn't expected this when I woke up this morning. If it helps, I'm just as unsure about you as you are about me."
The look on his face didn't change whatsoever.
"Prove it. Prove to me that you're Alien Guy."
I expected Julie to give me advice here, but that's when I remembered that I hadn't even shown her the alien watch yet. So, that's when I showed it to both of them.
"This thing on my wrist is the alien watch, but I think that it's actually called the Omnitrix. It's capable of releasing a special energy that can turn me into ten, maybe eleven different alien forms."
"Can you transform to really prove that what you're saying is the truth?" he asked.
I shook my head.
"Sorry, but I would rather save a transformation for an emergency or for fighting crime, as after each transformation the watch has to recharge before it can be used again. Though, I am who I say I am. I wouldn't lie to you about something like this, regardless of us being complete strangers."
I'm not sure if I actually believe that last part, I thought to myself.
Cooper remained silent and after a second or two of standing there, he walked off into the dark warehouse. I was going to ask Julie what he was doing, but he quickly returned with a roll of measuring tape. He then, much to my discomfort, measured me.
"Same height, same muscular structure." He said. "Same posture."
After that, he rolled up the measuring tape once more and removed his goggles, revealing that he had electric blue eyes.
"I don't believe it! You really are him, aren't you?"
"Um, yeah. That's what I've been trying to tell you for the last minute or so. But how did you know my height and stuff already?"
He gestured for me to follow him and so I did. We walked into one of the darker parts of the warehouse and he eventually turned a light on, one that was activated by a pull string. When he turned it on, I saw a bulletin board with all kinds of pictures of Alien Guy on them, as well as newspaper articles about me. He turned to look at me.
"I followed your history since you showed up last December."
I looked back at the bulletin board and recognized that some of the pictures were ones that Gwen had taken of me. I looked at him once more.
"Again, how did you know my height?"
"Well, I saw the news footage of you in costume the other day. I could tell just from the footage alone that you were a young person, a young adult at the most. I guess I was right on that front. I replayed the limited footage that I had over and over again and eventually came up with a rough estimation of what your height would be."
I gave him a skeptical look, on the account that I hadn't been wearing a costume for very long.
"Okay, alright, so maybe my estimates weren't spot on, but I was still pretty close!"
I put my hands up in defense.
"Hey, I wasn't trying to offend you. I just think that the fact that you had a good idea of what my height was to be a weird one."
"Fair enough."
He turned to look at Julie once this moment between us passed.
"Okay, so I now know that he was telling the truth about who he was. But again, why did you bring him to me?"
"I think that you could lend Ben a bit of a hand when it comes to his hero work."
"Yeah, I probably could."
Cooper then walked away again and turned on more lights, this time all of them, revealing several tables' worth of technology, leaving me awestruck. Once I saw over the feeling of awe, something important occurred to me. I turned back to Cooper.
"Wait, who exactly are you?" I asked.
"I'm Cooper Daniels." He replied as he stuck out his hand to me. "I specialize in technology. All kinds of technology."
I eventually took his hand and shook, albeit relunctantly.
"Ben Tennyson. It's a pleasure, Cooper."
"The pleasure's all mine." He replied with a chuckle.
"So, um, how did you get this warehouse and all of this technology? And how do you know Julie?"
"Actually, I'd rather not talk about the warehouse and technology. But as for me and Julie, we went to high school together. When my parents disowned me and I had to move into this place, she started to look in on me when she could and helped me where she could."
His parents disowning him? I can't help but think that doesn't really mean anything in this situation. I am a little curious, though. Why would his own parents disown him?
"Looking in on you?" Julie remarked with audible sarcasm in her voice. "You wouldn't survive without me!"
I don't know why, but just from that line alone, I couldn't help but sense a little bit of romantic tension between her and Cooper. Before Julie or myself could say anything else, Cooper cleared his throat.
"Anyway... if I'm going to help you, then we should get to work."
Before I could say anything in response, I noticed Julie taking off the backpack that I was for some reason just now realizing that she had on.
Wait a minute, I thought. Where did that backpack come from? Am I really this dense and I am just now noticing it?
The three of us walked over to the only empty table in the warehouse, where Julie emptied out the backpack and my entire costume fell out on full display. Upon seeing it, Cooper spoke.
"Huh, I was expecting more."
"I can't afford anything fancy." I replied. "I'm only a high school student."
"Maybe I can help with that. I can do some work on your costume, but it will take at least a day. I also might be able to come up with something that will help you get around a little faster, seeing as that watch of yours has to recharge after every use."
That's when I had a thought.
I'm getting all of this and Albedo is trying to do better with his life, but he'll end up getting nothing. While I get help, he gets nothing? No, that's not right.
"Um, I know this may sound a little odd, but would it be possible for you to make double of everything that you'll fashion for me? There's a person like me, who's currently a bit lost in the world, and I think that he could greatly benefit from all of this, too."
He just looked back at me without saying anything.
"Cooper, please. I know it sounds cliché, but this is important to me."
He continued to look at me, before eventually relenting.
"Alright, fine. But if I find out that you're messing with me or something, I won't be happy."
"Oh, come on. I wouldn't ask for something like that if I didn't really think that it was important."
"Uh-huh, yeah. Sure."
I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned to see Julie standing behind me.
"If that's everything, we should really get out of Cooper's hair. He works best in peace."
I nodded.
"Okay."
I turned back to look at Cooper, who was currently looking over all the separate pieces of my costume.
"Um, goodbye, Cooper."
He didn't look up at me, all I saw was his expression ever so slightly change.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Goodbye, see you later."
He's really absorbed into his work, I thought.
I continued standing there, when I felt Julie loop her arms around one of mine and begin to tug on me. I turned my head to look at her once more.
"Let's go." She mouthed to me.
Sometime Later
Downtown Bellwood, The Tenement Building
After leaving Cooper's warehouse, I had Julie bring me back to the abandoned tenement building that I had been staying in. I also had her give me something that I could use as a makeshift mask while Cooper had my costume. I asked her if she would want it back, but she told me not to worry about it.
"Are you sure about this?" she asked, turning her head to look at me sitting in the passenger seat. "You were only shot last night!"
I nodded.
"Yes, I'm sure. And don't worry, I'll be fine. And I really can't thank you enough for doing this, for patching me up."
"Of course. I mean, you'd do the same for me, right?"
"Well, I'd try. I'm not medically trained like you are."
"Well, I'm not trained. I'm currently receiving training while attending med school."
I nodded.
"Right. Hey, um, would it be possible for me to get your phone number? If I get hurt again, I may not have anyone else to go to for help. That is, if I can stay conscious long enough to reach out for help."
Julie smirked in response.
"Ben, I have med school to attend, a shit nine to five job to pay my rent and on top of all that, I still have to make sure that Cooper is taking care of himself. You were lucky that I was available the first time."
Even though her reasoning was solid, I pressed on.
"Please, Julie. On the off chance that you are available again, I really wouldn't have anyone else to go to."
She just looked at me, before sighing. She then reached into her purse and pulled out a pen, along with a pad of Post-It Notes. She wrote down a phone number on the Post-It Note, before peeling off the top note and handing it to me.
"Thank you." I said as I put the Post-It Note into my pocket.
She spoke again as I got out of her car.
"Just take care of yourself. Don't go and get shot again."
"I won't." I spoke as I gave her a wave of my hand.
She then drove away and that was that. I then entered the abandoned tenement building and went up to the floor that I was staying on. Once I entered the room in question, I was surprised to see Albedo waiting for me.
"There you are! Where have you been? You never came back last night and you were gone for a chunk of today, too!"
"Hello, Albedo. Good to see you, again. I went looking for that guy, Leon Jones, that you told me about. And he shot me."
His eyes widened as I said that.
"He shot you?! Are you okay?!"
I chuckled.
"Hey, I appreciate it, but you don't have to pretend to worry about me."
To my surprise, he looked as though what I said just now had hurt his feelings.
"Don't be like that. I know that we got off on the wrong foot, but I really am trying to do better."
I tried to choose my words a little bit more carefully this time.
"Sorry. I guess it's just habit. That I assume everyone affiliated with Alien Guy doesn't actually care for me."
"That's alright, I understand. So, if you were shot last night, are you good now? Like, how did you get through that?"
I chuckled again.
"I was lucky enough to have been shot within the vicinity of someone who is currently in training to be a nurse or doctor. They patched me up and allowed me to take shelter with them for the night."
He looked confused.
"You stayed with them for the night? So, do they know that you're Alien Guy, then?"
"That's for me to worry about."
His pale faced reddened as he turned his head away from me.
"Right, sorry."
"Hey, come on, Albedo. There's no need to be embarrassed. If you can't help but be curious, then you can't help it. Everyone's like that in their own way."
He turned his head to look back at me once again.
"Okay. Thanks for that."
I nodded. He then, much to my surprise, reached out his arm and rested his hand on my upper arm.
"But seriously, I'm really glad that you're okay, Ben."
I nodded once again.
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
He spoke again as he retracted his hand.
"No problem. Wait a minute, you didn't recoil when I called you by your name just now."
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Does that mean that you are over abandoning 'your former life'? That whole thing?"
I sighed as I sat down on the old wooden floor and rested my back against the wall.
"Maybe. Leon and I had a conversation before he shot me. He helped me see that I'm not cut out for this type of life. Maybe he is right. Maybe I should just go back to how things were before I decided to throw away my life as Ben Tennyson."
Albedo was silent for a few seconds after that, so I spoke again.
"Who knows, maybe I just miss Gwen."
Albedo cleared his throat and spoke once again.
"I think he's right. You should go home. The way you left has had a negative affect on Gwen and that will only get worse as time goes on."
I stood up once more and looked back at him.
"You know what? You're right. It was selfish of me to want to throw away my former life. I didn't think about the affect that it would have on Gwen nor did I ever stop to consider what my mom and dad would think of me running away from home. Would they think that they failed as parents? And as much as I don't want to admit it, you were right again. No one ever said that I had to abandon my life. I just have to be more careful and take more precautions."
A small smile appeared on his face as I said that.
"That's great! So, you'll go home?"
I nodded.
"Yes, but not tonight. Leon Jones is just too dangerous of a person to be allowed to continue running around. Last night, he told me about some 'criminal purge' that he was planning. You and I both know that Leon has already killed a lot of people, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's killed dozens more by morning. I have to stop him."
"Okay. Are you going to want some help with that?"
"If you want to help, then knock yourself out. But if at any point, things start to get really heated, I want you to get as far away from me as possible."
He nodded.
"I understand."
"Alright, then. Let's go catch ourselves a mass murderer."
Sometime Later
Downtown Bellwood, Leon Jones' Hideout
Obviously, I had to wear the piece of clothing that Julie lent me to make into a mask. Albedo saw it and laughed in response, but to be honest, I didn't care what he thought. I had to make do with what I currently had. I had returned to the roof where Leon had shot me, with Albedo observing from a distance. He was nowhere to be found, but all of his equipment was still here.
Where could he have gone?
I looked around the rooftop, but there was still no sign of him. I walked past the roof access door and just as I did, it swung open and hit me in my bad shoulder. I cursed in pain as I fell over and before I could even get back up, someone with a bag over their head was pushed through the door. And then Leon Jones himself walked through the door.
He must have pushed the door open, which hit me in the shoulder.
He saw me as he picked up his prisoner from the ground.
"Hello, Alien Guy." he said as he walked across the roof and sat his prisoner down on a block of wood.
"Surprised to see me alive?" I asked.
"Not really. I shot you with a weaker handgun. That was a peashooter compared to some of the other sidearms that I have."
"So, you're saying that the pain I felt was nothing compared to—" I tried to get a sentence out, only for Leon to interrupt.
"Yes. That pain was nothing."
"Who's your prisoner?"
"You'll find out soon enough." he said as he walked over to his stash of weapons.
"What are you doing?"
Leon ignored me for a few seconds.
"Ah, my favorite handgun." he said as he picked up a handgun that was bigger than the one he had shot me with.
It was a Beretta, maybe? I didn't know.
"What are you going to do?"
Leon ignored me again. He walked over to his target and ripped the bag off of their head which revealed that Leon's prisoner was Animo.
"Animo?"
Animo didn't say anything at first.
"You don't sound like Ten—" he eventually began to speak but Leon whacked him in the head, silencing him.
"What did I tell you?! I told you not to speak unless you are spoken to!"
"What are you going to do with him?"
Leon looked back at me with an angry look on his face.
"What do you think I'm going to do? I'm going to kill him!"
"Why? What did he do to you?"
"What did he do to me? What did this degenerate do to me?! He killed my family!"
A chill went down my spine after he said this.
This man? This former scientist killed Leon's family?
"Well, actually, I had to kill my family, because of what this creature did to them!" Leon exclaimed.
It took a second for me to speak.
"How? What did he do?"
"I've read the papers. You diffused one of his gas bombs in Downtown, didn't you?"
"Yeah. That was me."
"He set off a smaller bomb in the apartment that I lived in with my wife and little boy. Just a couple of months before he attempted the big one in Downtown."
"I see that you were unscathed."
"The only reason I was spared was because of I was out getting dinner. I remember."
I stayed silent as he spoke again.
"And it's your fault!" he shouted pointing his gun at me. "It's your fault. You could have stopped him!"
I just stood there and waited for him to shoot me again. But he didn't.
"I can't be in two places at once. If you're going to shoot me again, just do it already."
Leon lowered his weapon.
"No. I'm not going to shoot you again. I'm saving this bullet for this fiend."
"When I walked into our apartment after he had detonated the bomb, my wife and son came at me like a pack of ravenous wolves."
"I'm sorry."
"You're not sorry." Leon said as tears came to his eyes. "You weren't the one who had to put them down."
I didn't think that someone like Leon could actually cry. But here he was.
"They deserved it. It's the next step in—" Animo began to speak but Leon was on him in a matter of seconds.
Leon grabbed him with both hands after dropping his gun and threw him through the open door, down the stairwell. He ran down after him and I heard multiple strikes hitting Animo. After maybe thirty seconds or so, Leon brought him back up, Animo's face being bloodied up. Leon placed him back on the log after that.
"Remember your place, you piece of shit."
Leon looked back at me.
"Now, you're going to watch."
"I won't let you kill this man."
"You're going to watch me kill this animal."
"I won't let you." I repeated in a harsh tone.
"You'll watch!"
"Leon! Shut up and listen to me!" I exclaimed, my voice being full of anger.
He just looked at me and I was surprised that I hadn't angered him with what I said.
"I have to kill him." Leon said in a firm tone.
"Leon, you listen and you listen well. It's not your choice. And even if you do kill Animo, it won't make the pain go away. So, you'll go out and find another person to blame for your family's death. And another, and another. Until one morning you wake up and realize that you're a horrible person that has spent his whole life killing others."
Leon shook his head.
"This animal is insane and I have the cure for him. A bullet."
"That's not your choice! Animo has to stand before a court and a judge. And even if he faces the death penalty, you will not be the one to do it."
Leon just looked at me as he lowered his gun.
"You're right, it isn't up to me."
When Leon didn't do anything else after this, I actually thought that I may have talked him down. I was naïve. Leon spoke again and before I was able to react, it happened.
"But I still have to do this."
He then pointed his gun back at Animo's head and fired.
Author's Note:
* And that's it for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed!
* What did you guys think of this one when compared to the original version of Chapter Twenty Four? Did anything stand out to anyone? I put a lot of thought into what to do with this version of Chapter 24, so I hope it was a good one. Give me any comments or questions that you may have in either a review or a private message, please. I am very curious on what you all thought of this chapter.
* Anyway, that's going to do it for me. I'm going to go now, so have a great day and bye.
Director's Commentary
* Alright, so for this installment of Director's Commentary, I have a good few things that to talk about. Let's get started. So, to start, I redid part of this chapter's opening scene. What I am referring to is how Ben doesn't leave Julie's apartment right away. He was only shot the previous night, so he should probably stay with her for at least a few more hours. Also, I redid most of the dialogue between Ben and Julie. I don't think any of their dialogue in the original version of C.24 aged well at all. Plus, Ben wasn't exactly as nice as he could have been to Julie, so I think this was a welcome change.
* Next, I decided that I should debut Cooper earlier in this version of Volume One. So, originally, he debuted in Chapter 49 and here he is now, 25 chapters earlier. Some of you may think that this is a bit too early, but I think this change makes sense. So, even though Ben may have the intelligence, I don't think he has the financial means or the material to make some of the stuff that he made himself in the original Volume One. Plus, I didn't like some of the tech that he crafted himself. So, while he will get the wrist gauntlets in the future, Cooper will be the one to make them. And I wanted to try and give Cooper a little bit more purpose in this version, so we'll see how that goes.
* Also, while on the topic of Cooper, I changed the backstory between him and Julie. I just thought that them having gone to high school together makes for a better backstory than them just conveniently knowing each other already. Also, I hinted at a bit of romantic tension between the two of them already, just as a bit of a world building thing, I suppose. If that makes sense, that is.
* Next up, the scene with Albedo. I decided that maybe I should give Albedo some additional screen time, so to speak. This helps the two characters bond a little bit more and I think Albedo waiting up for Ben shows that he's serious about wanting to be a better person. Also, when Ben admits to Albedo that he really didn't have to abandon his "former life" and that the whole thing was a mistake. I think that this serves as character development for Ben. Also, I addressed this in my last review response to Hamzah haha's review on Chapter 23, but even if he is seventeen, Ben is still very much a kid. And I think that him admitting to the fact above reflects that, as well as the fact that maybe he doesn't know what he really wants, after all. I hope that makes sense. With that said, it's time to wrap up this installment of Director's Commentary. Thanks for reading.
Review Responses
Hamzah haha (Chapter 23): Well I totally understand where you are coming from... and no disrespect to your work there .. the plot you have is really good ... all it needs is a bit of proper arrangement but that is obviously only possible through mistakes.. whatever I'm pointing out is in no way a Diss or a dig at you.. I just hope that you take these into consideration and keep on improving .. frankly I personally didn't like Leon's arc vuz he comes off to me like the type of villan that is just a stepping stone for the mc.
Although.. I do hope that this time around Ben starts learning from his mistakes and by the time we get to the later chapters.. he redeems himself and has an overall good development of character.. then we would definitely be able to brush these off as necessary character development blunders on Ben's behalf. Like especially the Julie conversation would come off better if there was someone to animate it and I'm sure of it. Like him realising later on that he gave in too quickly for someone trying to hide his identity and such. Anyways Good luck to you and hope you recover well.. I'll especially be looking freeware to the upcoming chapters as they are real bitter-sweet ones.
Thanks for the review, Hamzah haha. I'm glad that you understand where I'm coming from. I'm not entirely sure what you meant with "proper arrangement that is only possible through mistakes", but I can work past not knowing what you mean by that for now. I'm definitely going to continue improving this story, I think you will see that. As for taking what you say into consideration, we'll see how that goes.
Not to diss you or anything, it's just that I want to write the reboot in a specific way, I already have notes written for the next ten plus chapters, so it'll be a little hard to cater to everything that you're asking for here. Though, I will say that I think we will see Ben's character improve over the course of this version of Volume One. And when you say, "the Julie conversation would come off better if there was someone to animate it...", do you mean as if it was animated like a cartoon or motion comic?
If that's what you're getting at, then I can't say that we think the same way, because I don't see that at all. This is just me, but I'm not sure that I can get Ben to eventually think that he admitted to being a vigilante to Julie too quickly, I just don't think that I write him that way. It's not an impossible thing to happen, but I wouldn't say it's entirely likely, either. I'm glad you're looking forward to the more bittersweet chapters.
I had to look into this, because I couldn't recall off the top of my head, but just so you're aware, portions of Chapters 28 and 29 should be bittersweet, as well as honest, in terms of characters, if that makes sense. So, I hope that's the type of bittersweet that you're looking for, because I put a lot of thought into what I have in mind for those chapters. Thanks for the review, as always.
Next Chapter: Following Animo's execution, Ben and Leon get into an argument. Albedo has to jump in to help against a new threat.