I have to do something, and NOW!
A beep is heard as Ben leaps, intent on landing the killing blow.
And then another.
And another.
A flash of red engulfs the area.
As the light dissipates, Ben falls face-first onto the ground, back in his human form. He groans, still getting readjusted, before lifting his head to look at his surroundings.
He sees the confused faces of a pack of wolves, at least those who didn't run away scared because of the sudden flash of the Ultimatrix's flashing red light. And among those who stayed… is his opponent.
"Grrrrrrrrr," the alpha growled while limping toward Ben, confused more than anything else.
Ben peers down at his hands as the last few hours begin to rack at his mind, flooding back to him instantly. "Oh, God. What… I… almost killed him. What was I thinking?!" Ben says to himself in denial. He's not in a good state of mind, to say the least.
Ben holds his head, trying to shake off the remnants of canine thoughts. "No… No, no, no!"
And while he struggles with that….
"Yip. Yip. Yip."
The limping Alpha laughs at Ben's state. He doesn't care anymore; he wants to kill Ben and stay as the ultimate Alpha.
"Ben! I know you're not okay, but we must go!" you beg Ben.
"Oh, God. It wasn't me. I wasn't me!"
Ben is in complete denial.
"Ben! BEN! WAKE UP!" You try to get him to respond, but it's hopeless. Scanning his brain, you realize why.
There's… it's slightly different? Nothing noticeable, but… is this an effect of Ben becoming a wolf? I don't know how to describe it. It's something Ben needs to come to terms with.
…
For CONTUMELIA'S SAKE! Ben isn't going to die; the watch's safety measures won't let him, but the Ultimatrix may not help him if a blow is non-lethal! And I don't know THESE WATCH'S directives yet! And him taking damage in this state is very, very bad!
Unfortunately, the alpha gives you no time to react, jumping toward Ben with his mouth open and a bloodthirsty look in his eyes. Ben doesn't even realize he's about to be prey.
…
And then there is blood.
But not Ben's. And not even the female wolf he'd become friends with.
It was the alpha's blood.
Before the wolf could get to Ben, another shadow covered in fur went for the kill.
Ben's friend, the same wolf that had protected Ben before that had spent the evening hunting in the woods with your master, bit the alpha before mauling his eye with her claws.
Taken by surprise, the alpha could do nothing as he was tossed toward a tree.
"WOOOOOOOOOF!"
Ben's friend isn't some random wolf; she is the female alpha.
The old male alpha limps away in a hurry, barely alive. The wolf was scared, and like a coward, he ran away, leaving the pack once and for all.
They were finally free of him.
"Wow… YOU GO, GIRL!" you shout from your holographic mouth.
And yet, you're the only one celebrating.
The other wolves in the pack look at you, Ben, and the female alpha with incomprehensible emotions. There are two you recognize, however: confusion and hesitation.
"Uhh… meow?" you joke.
The wolves don't like that.
Guess they don't have a sense of humor.
Two wolves, one male, and one female, step to the front of the pack.
It becomes instantly clear what is happening.
Without an alpha pair, the beta pair would become the new leaders.
And for the beta pair to have maintained their position as the beta pair, to stay loyal to THAT type of leader, they had to be like the old alpha or worse.
The rest of the wolves look completely demoralized. They knew better than anyone that the cycle of abuse would continue.
Did we… do the right thing?
"Woof!" the male beta wolf barks, still completely incomprehensible to you.
"Bark!" his partner continues, ushering all the other wolves, injured or not, to follow their lead. And all of them do… except for one.
"Woof! Bark! Woof!"
Ben's friend, the previous female Alpha, watches what is happening with a face of disbelief.
But you don't need to know how to speak wolf to realize how quickly the tables have turned as both betas growl at your friend.
While still rattled, Ben seems to have calmed down, at least enough for him to refocus.
"Let's get out of here," you advise.
Ben doesn't talk back, instead getting to his feet, a bit wobbly, and backing away from the pack.
The female alpha takes one look at Ben's departing form, another look at the pack, and immediately sprints to Ben's side.
The three of you wander through the woods aimlessly before returning to the pond where this all started. Ben stares at his reflection, lost in thought.
"I… I almost killed him. I wanted to. And you stopped me." Ben looks over you. "T-Thank you, Trixie."
"Don't worry, Dweeb," you tell him. "We're together on this."
"It felt like my mind was in a fog. I couldn't think; I just acted. I didn't know who or what I was; I just felt this… overwhelming urge to follow your orders and my sister."
…
"Sister?" you blink.
Ben motions the wolf following you. "Pond?"
You laugh. "That's seriously her name? You couldn't come up with anything better?"
Ben doesn't seem all that amused. "What's so funny? We met her here at the pond. It just seems like a fitting name."
"Wow, how original, Ben," once you finish chuckling yourself, you start to get a grasp on the situation. "I never thought about it, but I guess since we copied Pond's DNA specifically, you would be related. No wonder she helped you throughout the night."
"And now she doesn't have a home anymore," Ben's expression drops. "We made sure of that."
"It's not your fault, Ben," you insist.
"I could understand them," Ben clarifies. "I knew firsthand how much the pack was hurting, and we just put someone even worse in charge. How can I be a hero if I can't even help a few animals? First, I let the multiverse get destroyed, and now this? I'm not cut out for any of this."
"We'll figure this out together," you affirm. "Maybe we massively ###### up by trying to activate animal transformations, but we learned our lesson. And who knows? Maybe there will be a time in the future when becoming a wolf again is a valid choice to make."
"Yeah," Ben halfheartedly agrees. "I guess."
Again, Ben's eyes linger on Pond, who is taking a sip of water.
"Why is she following us?" you question Ben.
"As I said, Pond doesn't have a home anymore. And even though I'm human now, she has my scent. She knows it's me and still thinks of me as her family. It's… mostly just her natural instinct to follow me."
Ben's guilt is evident. "What are we going to do? We're already not supposed to exist in the multiverse, and it's gonna be hard to move around with a wolf following us everywhere we go."
"Her place is out in the wilderness, Ben. If Pond was an alpha before, she'd find a new pack."
"But that was the only pack in the woods," Ben reveals. "She'll have to migrate somewhere or live alone. Either way, it's dangerous."
"What do you want us to do, Ben?"
"I-I don't know. We already upset the natural order once. There has to be something we can do with the Ultimatrix to make this right."
"Well, if you let me know your thoughts, maybe we can figure something out."
Ben scratches the back of his head. "The Ultimatrix uses the DNA of other species to change its user, in this case, me, into said species, right?"
"Basically."
"Then… are those functions exclusive to the user?"
"What do you mean, Ben?"
"Well, I just figured we could… change Pond's DNA?" he suggests.
You consider this for a moment.
"Theoretically, yes," you answer. "The Ultimatrix wasn't made to just transform you into aliens. It can transform any user, regardless of the initial species. So there would be nothing stopping the Ultimatrix from changing Pond. The problem is that Pond isn't the user."
"Why?"
"Well, I know my original model's functions like the back of my hand. And among those functions was the ability to repair another creature's DNA. It was… mostly complete and could be a bit glitchy. Azmuth believed it would require a recalibration or two to get it just right, but presumably, the Omnitrix from your universe had that function. At the very least, the upgraded version should've functioned as the needed recalibration."
Ben nods, mostly following along. "Can you check?"
"Yeah, give me a second."
Quickly breezing through the files, which were more like a giant maze, you generally find what you're looking for. "I'd have to do some deeper research, but at first glance, it's operational."
"You're a supercomputer. How do you need time?"
"Firstly, I'm an A.I. of the supercomputer. Secondly, all the files are incredibly disorganized. I'll need to take the time to rearrange things into a more… convenient format to make future searches faster. Anyway, that's not important right now."
"So changing DNA is possible?"
"Yes. If the repair function is online, then changing would be online. But…. looking at it from a glance, it seems like it requires the creature's consent, much like the watch almost always asks for its user's consent."
"So, what's the extent of the change?"
"I mean, you'd be replacing Pond's DNA for the DNA of another creature in the watch that we've unlocked."
"So that gives us… thirteen options?" Ben considers.
"Actually, fourteen," you correct. "You're probably forgetting human."
"Huh?"
"How do you think the watch is able to revert you to a human, Ben? Your DNA is stored in the watch as the basis for human transformations."
"That makes sense," Ben realizes. "Hey, that means if we used the Ultimatrix to make Pond human, she'd be my sister."
"Yeah," you shrug. "I guess that's how it'd work. You'd be related… again. Though that'd be yet another person with no past. And… she's been a canine her whole life."
"Doesn't the Ultimatrix also give you all the instincts you need to function as a human? Or, in this case, all my instincts and knowledge?"
"Yeah, but that would basically go as far as talking, walking, generic behaviors. Not much in terms of education. I mean, there's a reason cavemen and cavewomen didn't have cell phones or school."
"So if I have this right, we can use the Ultimatrix's functions to, with Pond's consent, use my DNA sample to turn her into my twin sister, giving her the basic instincts and knowledge of what she'd need to function in society minus a high school education."
"Close enough. You could technically turn Pond into any unlocked alien, but a human would allow her to most easily blend into society with you, which would be the goal as of now. I know that seeing aliens on this planet is… pretty uncommon. We can mess with the alien stuff, but maybe after getting you and potentially Pond settled in."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we'd just think they're superheroes. In fact… pretty sure I recognize some of the aliens in the Ultimatrix from some old newspapers talking about supposed superhero sightings."
Ben shakes his head. "We can worry about that later. Our options are to take Pond with us as is, transform her into a human, or… leave her out here in the woods."
"What do you want to do?" you ask Ben.
He taps his foot impatiently. "Pond, would you like to be human."
"Yap!" Pond responds.
"What did she say?" you question.
"She's hungry."
…
You start to tear up.
"Are you crying?" Ben looks at you, concerned.
"There's just so much beauty in the world, you know?!"
"Focus, Trixie!" Ben scolds. "We don't have all night!"
"We don't? But… we literally have nothing to do."
"Whatever. I just don't want to linger on this."
"Then… why are you looking to me for the decision?"
"I don't know," Ben admits. "It just feels… right… obeying you."
Obey?
…
####.
I'm not saying I don't appreciate Ben giving up his power over the relationship, but… Azmuth was right for once. There's some danger to this non-sapient thing. Hopefully, it's just a phase, and Ben will return to normal soon.
Still, I've got a few different choices here.
Firstly, I could just decide to leave Pond here in the woods and leave this whole night behind us. I know Ben's already pretty attached to her, considering the circumstances, but is it really right for us to meddle any more than we have? And she's a wolf; it's not like she's a stray dog that can be easily domesticated. Even if there is a huge payoff at the end of the road, keeping Pond around in any capacity will be a lot of work. It's just if we're prepared to deal with it, and if not, am I willing to take a hit in my relationship with Ben.
And even if we bring Pond with us, the question is how we take her with us. Maybe we can keep her in wolf form? Probably wouldn't be too hard to find some sort of stray dog's DNA to merge her with so that she doesn't look so obviously like a wolf. In any case, it's a lower maintenance option than the other option since all we'd have to do is domesticate her. We might get some strange looks, but it's the least morally ambiguous option unless we decide to use the DNA functions down the line. But is it really worth drawing all that much attention?
Lastly, I could use the DNA function to turn Pond into Ben's sister. In some ways, this would be just as much work as keeping her as a wolf. I don't actually know all that much about Pond's personality other than that she's protective of Ben. I know she probably wouldn't be all that bright if she was a human, but that's just what is to be expected when you turn a non-sentient creature into a sentient being. This would probably take the most amount of work, but there's something that only a sentient companion can offer that a non-sentient one can't. And so long as we kept Pond in line, it would raise the least amount of suspicion. Maybe she doesn't have any form of identification, but Ben doesn't, either. At least her form wouldn't raise suspicion, even if her behavior could. At the very least, it would be a good experiment, but is it worth the effort, even if Ben's most likely to be the most satisfied with this choice.
I know Ben is leaning toward one of the latter options. Each offers different perks. I'll be trading effort against potential and points with Ben. It'll also affect my dynamic with Ben moving forward and, of course, how Pond fits into the wider picture of our group. What does Ben need the most? A pet? A sister? A friend? A companion? Or maybe none of these things.
I just have to decide.
DECISION POINT: What Should You Do About Pond?
A - Leave Pond In The Woods
B - Take Pond With You As A Pet Companion
C - Transform Pond Into A Human