The kids stopped on the trail they'd been hiking on.
"I got to admit. It's really nice out here," Ben said.
Eddie nodded. "I thought you might like it once you were unplugged from the gadgets for a while."
"I thought gadgets were your thing," the shorter boy said.
"They are. I do like stepping away from it sometimes."
Gwen put a hand on Eddies shoulder, leaning slightly on him. "I think we need to go back though. My feet are getting sore."
Eddie nodded saying, "Max probably has the decorations up by now."
The Tennysons looked at him. "Can you at least pretend to be surprised," Gwen said.
Eddie laughed and told her, "I'll do my best." He turned to Ben. "How about a ride to take some pressure off of her sore feet?"
"One Wildmutt coming up," Ben said, hitting the watch. He growled. Gwen translated. "He said that he's starting to get the alien he wants more now."
"That's great. Let's go."
The two riders slid off Wildmutt just before they got to the campground. After Ben transformed back, they walked the rest of the way to the rustbucket.
"Glad you guys showed up," Max said. "Happy Birthday Eddie."
"Thank you, Max."
"Don't thank me. Ben and Gwen did all the planning."
He turned to them. "Thanks guys."
"No sweat," Ben said. "Although, we did kind of drop the ball on presents."
Gwen looked sheepish. "Yeah, we really couldn't think of anything to give you."
Eddie smiled. "Don't worry about it." He paused. "How can I put this without getting sappy?"
Max put a hand on his shoulder, "No one here but us and we won't tell."
Eddie looked back at Ben and Gwen. "You gave me my best friends."
To his surprise, Ben didn't make any smart comments. Gwen, a hint of a tear in her eye said, "I promise I won't tell anyone you said something so sweet." She lunged forward to hug him.
"Now that's something I'm not going to give you," Ben said in a jocular manner.
Eddie laughed. "You'd better not. How about this instead?" He held out his hand for a shake.
"Anytime," Ben said, taking the offered handshake.
"Now," Max said. "Who wants cake?"
All of the kids enthusiastically agreed. Eddie smiled; he was starting to enjoy acting his age.
"Okay, then. It's on the table."
The kids walked into the rustbucket and Max lit eleven candles.
Eddie went to blow the candles out.
"WAIT!" Gwen shouted.
They all looked at her.
"We almost forgot something," Gwen said.
"Say, that's right," Max agreed. He looked at his grandkids. "A one and a two.." Then they sang "Happy birthday to you...
Happy birthday to you..."
The birthday boy had an ear-to-ear grin as they sang. Then Max said, "Well, make a wish Eddie."
Eddie looked around him, looking at each of the Tennysons. He then turned to the cake, took a deep breath, and blew out the candles in one blow.
"What did you wish for?" Ben asked.
"Ben," Gwen chided. "You know he can't tell you that."
"She's right," Eddie agreed. "It's against the rules."
The four of them ate their cake and ice cream and enjoyed conversation. As they sat there, Donovan called to wish his grandson a happy birthday.
"Thanks Grandpa," the young man said, then listened.
"Thanks for letting me come with them." He paused.
"Yeah, we're getting along great."
Pause...
"Yeah, we did. Just like you and Max."
Pause...
"Yeah, she and I are hitting it off pretty well to."
Pause...
"Well, we'll see about that. Oh, and I have an invitation to their birthday party in December."
Pause...
"Yeah, I'm already learning a lot from Max."
Pause...
"Okay, talk to you later grandpa. Here's Max again."
With that he handed the phone to the elder Tennyson. He then turned to Ben and Gwen; "It's confirmed. I'll be at your party. Grandpa and I may just come in a few days early so we can see you for Christmas too."
"That's great." Both of the cousins agreed.
"Oh, wait here," Gwen said and then ran to her bunk. In a moment she was back.
"I want to try something," she said, holding the book she had taken from Charmcaster.
"Okay, here's a simple one. It just levitates small objects. Focus on, oh the pencil on the table, and read this."
With his first attempt, Eddie pronounced those words wrong. Gwen giggled and corrected him.
On his second attempt the pencil did lift off the table. Eddie immediately lost his concentration though and it fell back.
"I knew it!" Gwen said.
Max smiled. "Yup. Looks like my eyes weren't playing tricks on me back at the falls."
"You mean?..." Eddie started.
"Yer a wizard Eddie," Gwen said in a very poor imitation of the giant from the Harry Potter movies.
Eddie laughed. Then he stopped. "Wait a minute. Gwen, do you remember what Charmcaster said to you about having a magic aura?"
"Yeah, that she wouldn't be able to use magic in my body if..." she trailed off.
Eddie continued, "And she wanted to funnel her magic through the Omnitrix."
"Whoa. Are you guys saying that I can do magic too?" Ben asked.
"Wait, there's another way." She flipped to another page. "This allows you to see magic auras," she said the words as she looked at Ben.
She smiled. "There's a moderate aura, but I think the watch is interfering with it. I think Charmcaster would have been disappointed if her plans had worked."
"So?" Max said. "While he has some magic potential, the watch isn't compatible with magic."
"I'll take the Omnitrix. You guys can handle the magic," Ben said.
Gwen then turned to Eddie. "Well, how's that for a birthday gift. We'll learn magic together."
"Sounds great to me," Eddie said with a smile.
A couple of days later the rustbucket was rolling through the Arizona desert toward Canyon de Chlley.
"looks like a great place to shoot a western," Eddie said, looking over at Gwen.
"I think they did," she told him.
"There have been a few," Max called back to them.
When they stopped, they were greeted by another old friend of Maxs'.
"Kids, this is Wes Green, an old friend from my plumber days." He turned to the other man. "They know all about those days."
"All?" Wes asked in a questioning tone.
"Yes. I'll tell you the story later."
"Well then, let me show you around," he said as he motioned for the group to follow him.
Wes showed them around and told them some about his culture. Gwen was fascinated by some of the blueish green stones in some of the jewelry.
Eddie smiled. "Miss." He got the attention of the shop owner and reached for his wallet.
"Eddie, you don't have to do that."
"I know I don't have to." He handed the woman the money.
Gwen smiled, knowing that the necklaces in her hand was now hers. "Help me put it on," she asked Eddie.
Max looked over smiling.
Ben on the other hand, just rolled his eyes.
Next Wes told them about something called a dream catcher. Ben whispered to Eddie. "Freddy would just cut right through it."
Eddie gave him a disproving look, but Ben could tell he was trying to hide a laugh.
Wes continued, with a clear sense of pride, to tell the kids about his people's history and culture.
Ben, however, was getting bored.
"Could this trip get any more...Cooler." He changed his tone as soon as he saw the girl, about his age, doing some kind of dance.
"That's my granddaughter Kai."
Max smiled. "Last time I saw her she was barely walking."
"She's performing a ceremonial Navajo dance," Wes explained.
A suddenly enthusiastic Ben said, "You know, I was hoping to see one of those before the summer ended."
"Since when have you been interested in native American spiritual dance?" Gwen asked.
This installment of the Ben and Gwen comedy team was going to be particularly interesting for Eddie, since he was already seeing the reason for Ben's sudden change of attitude.
"Since forever dweeb. It rocks!" Was Ben's response.
Before they could go any further, the weather suddenly, very suddenly and drastically, changed. A violent rain storm started.
"Take cover in the rustbucket," Max told them.
They all ran but Kai was swept away by the flood.
"Ben! Save Kai!" Eddie called out, louder than he needed to. An exasperated Gwen groaned at the theatrics. Eddie smiled at her response.
A short time later they were making their plans to hunt the werewolf. Much to Gwen's annoyance, the girls were to be left behind.
"Kai seems bummed. Maybe I can cheer her up." Ben said.
"Since when do you care about what girls care about..." That's when it hit her. "Unless you like her. That's it. You so like, like her."
"No way," Ben protested.
"Ben's got a crush, Ben's got a crush," Gwen said in a school yard chant.
"So not!"
"So do!"
Then Ben surprised her. "So, what if I do. You do to."
"What?" Gwen exclaimed. "What are you talking about?"
"Duh, Eddie."
"I.." She stopped.
"Yeah," Ben prompted.
That made her stop and ask herself; 'do I have a crush on him?'
"I, I don't know, I mean, he's nice. I like him."
"Yeah, just the way I like Kai."
She paused. "Maybe. I don't know."
"I won't say anything." Ben assured her. "But, if you're hanging around Kai or something. Could you do me a favor?"
"What?" she asked doubtfully.
"Sorta let it slip how cool I am. You know, that you're lucky to have me for a cousin."
"So you want me to lie."
"Well, when you put it that way...Sure." Ben walked off. "Oh, by the way. I'm pretty sure it's mutual. I mean with Eddie."
Gwen stood stunned as Ben walked away.
Eddie really didn't believe there was any such thing as a yenaldooshi, or any other kind of werewolf, Until he saw one up close. And watched Ben fight it.
Then to confirm it, Ben began to change. It began as he was bragging to Kai about his heroics.
"The yenaldooshi can create others in it's exact image. And when it does, those followers will seek to destroy those closest to them."
"Lucky we don't like each other." Gwen said.
"Gwen." Eddie countered. "Now's not the time for that game. It could get you killed."
Gwen started to object, but Eddie held up a hand to stop her. "You both know it."
Max agreed. "He's right. He has a lot of people he cares about, but you two have had some kind of bond since you were born...Even if you find a strange way to show it."
Max turned to Wes. "So how does Ben; unwolf?"
Wes prescribed solution, a pendant and juice from a specific cactus, didn't work. As Ben fought with it, the reason became clear. There was no werewolf, only an alien wolf. And Ben now had a new alien in the Omnitrix.
Nothing supernatural going on. Eddie had to restrain his impulse to issue an 'I told you so.' But, it seemed rude to make light of his hosts beliefs. And besides, it would likely annoy Gwen. Then it hit him; 'Why am I so concerned about annoying her?'
Later, with the alien wolf defeated; The villagers returned.
And Ben was happy to find that he can collect new aliens for the Omnitrix.
Ben turned to Kai. "It's a long summer. Maybe I'll see you again."
"The thing is Ben. You seem like a nice guy. But you're just not my type."
Shocked Ben said. "I thought you really liked me."
"That was before you turned back into..well, you."
"What's wrong with ME?" Ben asked, a hurt tone in his voice.
"Nothing, and the alien stuff's cool, just not as cool as when you were a yenaldooshi. I figured I could train you, tame you. You know."
"That is the most asinine thing I've ever heard!" Eddie said.
Gwen added, "Train him, tame him? He's a person not a pet. You can't talk to my cousin like that. Only I can talk to my cousin like that. You just blew it big time."
Kai shrugged. "Oh well. Whatever."
Ben walked over to them. "The thing about a crush is, sometimes you get crushed. Don't worry. There's lots of other girls out there.
"Ya think so?" He asked.
"No doubt," Eddie said. "You'll find one who knows a good thing when she sees it."
Ben smiled. "Thanks. I hope you do too," he said, glancing at Gwen as he walked by her.
"Until then, you can always count on us," Eddie reassured him.
"The three musketeers," Gwen said.
"Great," Ben said. "Now I want a candy bar."
The other two laughed.