Ch 15 Why can't there be peace?

After his battle to the death with Ah Puch, Ben wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and relax. Unfortunately, his mind didn't seem willing to allow that.

As he was lying down, he was constantly thinking about what he could have done better. For example, if he used the fusions from the beginning, he could have dealt some damage when his opponent was unprepared. Or if he had entered wearing his Nightingale armour, he wouldn't have been so defenceless when switching fusions.

Plus, if he had tried using the Force, he might have been able to hold back, crush or choke Ah Puch, but he hasn't trained with the Force enough. Unless he is guides by his emotions, he struggles to use the Force on other beings, especially powerful ones. As it is now, he can only use it on objects so easily because he uses it brute forces.

Then there is the fact that he lost control of himself again... Just like when he got angry and lustful, he acted without even thinking, which told him that he still wasn't fully stabilised or worse, his Anodite heritage is making him vulnerable to his emotions.

But, more than anything... He was angry that he felt so helpless and scared... Even before reincarnation, when he was a normal human, he had been in his fair share of life threatening situations, but he never felt so scared. It wasn't hard for him to understand that it was primarily because he was a ten year old again, but with how much power he has, it hurts his pride to be put in such a state.

If not for the rewards he got from the mission, he would regret accepting it. This was the problem with choosing this life, he now has people that he cares for and care about him, so when he is fighting, he has to consider that he can lose more than just his life.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get to sleep any time soon, feeling too worked up, he got up and went outside to release some of his frustration via excessive exercise, like knocking a tree down and using it as weight to bench press.

As he continued to lift the tree, the thought that he was so close to dying ran through his mind, over and over, rekindling the flames of anger inside him as he gripped the tree harder and his fingers dug into the bark. It didn't take long for Ben's anger hit the point that Wrath was activated and at that same moment, he growled angrily and tossed the tree backwards.

In what seemed to be an instant, Ben got on his feet and jumped at the tree he just threw, grabbing it again and smashing it into the ground before he punched it. The tree broke in half from the point that Ben's fist made contact, causing splinters to fly out, many of them into his own body.

The splinters failed to pierce his skin, but did served to irritate him, leading him to shout out angrily before an ethereal forcefield exploded out of his body and disintegrated everything within 10ft of him.

Ben's anger wasn't quelled with only this level of destruction, as he turned into his Anodite form and floated into the air, forming spheres of Mana and throwing them it the ground, causing small explosions upon contact. He shot more than thirty in quick succession, before stopping as he brought his hands together in front of himself and shouting loudly, as a red beam of energy came out of his hands and into the wreckage below.

...

After wasting more than half his Mana, Ben stopped destroying the ground and slowly lower himself down to the ground, before reverting to his human form.

Panting as he glared into the space in front of himself, the raging fire inside him had barely reduced to being embers, just as he heard a voice call his name. "Ben..."

"What!" Snapping around aggressively at the speaker, Ben saw that Gwen, Keira and Max were staring at with worried expressions. Whether their worry was for him or of him, he couldn't really tell, so he closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he steadied himself. He looked at three of them with calm face, but still with a dip in his brow. "What is it..."

Gwen stared at her normally calm and collected crush, feeling terrible as she could see how much he was hurting, but didn't know what she could do. All she could do, is ask what everyone asks when they're worried about someone. "Are you okay?" Unfortunately for Gwen, you rarely get the truth when asking this.

"I'm fine!" He snapped slightly, but when he saw her flinch at his sharp tone, he took another breath and calmed himself. "Sorry, I'm fine... I just wanted to blow off some steam, I'm better now..." Without saying more, he started walking back to the RV. Meanwhile, the other three could only watch on with worry, before following after him.

When Ben got inside the Rustbucket, he felt a sudden hunger hit him, confusing him as he hadn't felt so hungry before. He quickly went and started making a ton of food, having to resist the urge to eat the ingredients raw.

The other three entered the RV and saw Ben cooking up a storm. They were confused by his sudden behaviour change and wanted to ask about it, but they suddenly heard his stomach growl violently as he groaned.

After more than an hour and with some alien assistance, Ben ended up preparing an entire buffet worth of food and set it on the table in disorganised piles. Quickly sitting down, he began eating like a starving man. He wasn't just selfishly hording the food to himself, but when the others saw the way he was eating, they grew concerned for him.

The reason Ben was so hungry, is because of Gluttony. Due to the sudden increase in his stats, Ben's body was in need of a lot of energy to adjust to the changes and because he had wasted a bunch of energy when venting, he had to restore it quickly and eating was the best way to do that.

Ben continued to eat and eat, and as he did so, Max, Gwen and Keira had their mouths hanging open in shock and horror as they saw his body morphing in front of them. His muscles continously bulged up and condensed as his face became better looking, but that was overshadowed by the way his bones sounded like they were breaking inside his body, before creaking and repairing into a stronger form.

Soon, the pile of food diminished significantly and the bodily changes became less obvious, much to the observers relief. When Ben was finally done eating and his body had settled down, he sighed contentedly. He had left enough food the others and then some, so he wouldn't have to make more, to his relief.

Standing up, Ben's joints audibly popped and he groaned with satisfaction. The only problem he had now, was that he felt extremely tired, so with the little energy he had remaining, he went over to the back and laid down, immediately falling asleep.

Max felt some relief that whatever was happening had stopped and was left looking at the food left on the table with the girls. Unfortunately, after the gory scene they'd just witnessed, neither he nor the girls felt like eating. He decided to wrap the food up and put it in the fridge for later, before getting behind the wheel and started driving away.

Gwen and Keira were feeling stressed from the days events, so they went and laid next to Ben, wanting to be close to him as they hugged him tightly and made sure that he wouldn't disappear on them.

---

After falling asleep, Ben didn't wake up until the next day, but when he did, he felt great. Physically speaking that is, mentally he still felt pretty bad and wanted nothing more than to relax for a while.

Getting up groggily, he freed himself from the clutches of the girls. He immediately went outside and quickly did his daily mission, but only once, so that he could get the Recovery and restock what he'd lost. The moment he was done, he went back into the RV and started making breakfast.

While making breakfast, he decided to deal with something he'd put off yesterday... Talking to Gabriel.

Opening their connection, Ben hesitantly spoke in his mind. 'Gabriel...' Almost a minute passed and she still didn't answer, so he spoke again, a tinge of pain in his tone at being ignored by the only person he's able to be completely open with. 'Gabriel, please don't ignore me...'

"What do you want...?" Feeling the pain in his voice, Gabriel couldn't bring herself to continue ignoring him, but she didn't sound happy when speaking with him. She felt like she had failed him and that he didn't trust her, based on how she was unable to help him and he'd gone so far as to block her out.

Ben understood that he had hurt her, but what was he supposed to do? He felt like he was walking into an execution and hearing her cries didn't help him. 'I won't apologise... I feel that I did the right thing, given the situation, it was the only thing I could do. Your cries didn't help me at the time and believe me, you wouldn't have wanted to see what happened after. One mistake and I would have died...'

As Ben spoke, Gabriel quietly cried. When she heard him say he was so close to death, she felt a deep pain in her soul. "I'm sorry... I'M SORRY I'M SO USELESS TO YOU!! I'm sorry that I couldn't help you!..." She had broke down and screamed out in pain.

Listening to Gabriel's cries, Ben felt awful for making her feel like this. 'Gabriel, you aren't useless. You help me all the time, but you can't help me fight, especially when it comes because of my own overconfidence. I underestimated the threat that would be created by accepting the mission. It was entirely my fault...'

A silence settled between the two of them. Gabriel was silently crying, while Ben continued to make food.

With some time to calm down, Gabriel spoke and made a selfish request. "Ben... Please, don't do anything so dangerous again..."

He remained silent for a moment, before replying. 'I won't make a promise that I can't guarantee I'll uphold, but I won't be doing anything that stupid for quite a while. Will that suffice?'

She wasn't exactly satisfied by his answer, but by all right, she had no right to ask this and so she reluctantly accepted. "Okay... Thank you..."

Feeling better now that he had somewhat fixed the mess he'd created, Ben finished up the breakfast and prepared himself to deal with the other mess he'd made with the other two girls in his life. Turning around with some plates in his hands, Ben saw Gwen and Keira sitting at the table, but they looked incredibly down.

Putting all the plates down, he did the best thing he could think of to cheer them up and decided to hug them, and because he figured that they wouldn't eat otherwise, he started feeding them both.

Max was also sitting at the table and eating silently. He wasn't feeling particularly great either, feeling mostly responsible for putting Ben and the girls in such a situation. If not for Ben, then they all would be dead without a doubt, but if Ben had died alone, then how would he be able to face his son and daughter-in-law.

This entire event had made him rethink everything. He had been trying to keep secret as much about the universe and anything related to the Plumbers as he could, hoping that the kids would stay out of that world, but now he understood that wasn't possible... So, from now on, the least he can do is prepare them as much as he could.

Once Max had eaten his food, he went straight to the driver's seat and got them moving again.

Meanwhile, Ben stayed with the girls and comforted them, assuring them that they weren't going to lose him. Not anytime soon at least...

...

Although Ben wanted to do nothing and relax, there was a point during their journey that he had to get out of the RV and save a bus of elderly people, as they were hanging over the edge of a cliff. So, because he isn't an idiot that only thinks with his muscles, he turned into Upgrade and merged with the bus. He first moved away from the edge and then fixed any damage that had been done, before removing himself from the bus and returning to the Rustbucket.

As they got moving again, Gwen was on her laptop and saw something of interest at their next destination, so they started making plans.

This series of events reminded him of what was supposed to happen. That Hex and Charmcaster should show up for a charm, so he took a mental note to go get it himself. He doesn't know if Hex will still appear or not, but he hopes not as he just wants to relax.

...

It didnt take long for them to arrive at their destination. Las Vegas. Why you would take three kids to sin city, only God know... Maybe not even God.

Ignoring the questionable choice of destination, they immediately took to enacting Gwens plan to visit a magic convention for fun and the possibility of discovering something cool or useful.

Upon arriving at the convention, Ben started sensing for magic and upon feeling something, he headed in its direction and arrived at a stall selling 'Magical Jewellery'.

Most of the jewellery was just cheap trinkets, but there was a single genuine article amongst the trash. It was a blue and gold bracelet with a red stone embedded into it, and that stone just so happens to be the Keystone of Bezel, capable of increasing the abilities of the wearer and the other charms by 10x.

Ben picked up the bracelet and was going to buy it, but his eyes stopped on two nice sets of couples necklaces. One was a gold sun and a silver moon, while the other was a silver and black dragon that join together to form a heart. 'These might improve their moods.' With his thoughts directed to the girls, he picked up the necklaces and paid the woman running the stall.

His purchases in hand, Ben turned and started looking for the others with a bit of a smile on his face. When he found them, he saw Gwen laughing at Keira as she messed around with magic props, likely trying to cheer them both up.

Seeing Gwen laughing made him happy and he was even more glad that he got Keira to join them on their trip, she is a good friend to Gwen and means she isn't dealing with everything on her own.

Making his way over, he was immediately seen by the girls as they brightly smiled at him. He returned the smile and waved to them as they ran over to him. "Hey, Gwen, Keira, I have something for both of you."

Hearing that he had something for them, the girls became excited and stood in waiting before him. They could see that he was carrying a bracelet but nothing else.

Gwen did take some interest in the bracelet as she felt a familiar magical aura from it and upon closer inspection, she saw the Keystone of Bezel. "Ben, is that...?"

Seeing her looking at the bracelet, Ben lifted it towards her. "Well, this is the Keystone of Bezel and I'll let you research about it, but it's not my actual gift." He handed her the bracelet, which she happily put on her wrist, and then he reached his hands into his pockets and brought out the necklaces, presenting them to the the girls.

In front of Gwen was the sun and moon necklaces, while the dragons were in front of Keira. Both the girls saw the presented necklaces and felt their faces become hot, as they somewhat recognised that they were couples necklaces. However, even in their embarrassment, they couldn't stop the beautiful smiles that bloomed on their faces.

They both jumped at and hugged Ben while thanking him repeatedly. Being hugged by the two of them in public like this, Ben suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, as he could see some older women laughing at the sight of their affection.

Coughing lightly to hide his embarrassment, he patted the girls' backs and soft explained. "R-right, well, why don't you pick which one you want and I'll take the other, that way we will always be together..." Realising that he just said something so cheesy in public, Ben felt like going over to the nearest wall and banging his head against it.

But, despite the cheesy line, the girls didn't say anything and instead looked at the necklaces eagerly. It took a moment, but Gwen settled on taking the sun necklace and Keira picked the silver dragon for herself. With no time wasted, they asked him to put the necklaces on them himself and so he did, having no reason to refuse.

Once they were wearing their necklaces, they quickly snatched the counterparts from him and then took turns to put them on him, before then kissing one of his cheeks each. Before he could say or even process what just happened, the two girls grabbed a hand of his each and started dragging him away with prominent blushes on their faces.

When his brain started working at full capacity, Ben blushed heavily at the sudden assertiveness of the two of them. His embarrassment wasn't aided any, as some of the people made teasing comments about them and laughed.

As he let himself be dragged along by the girls, Ben could help thinking to himself. 'Oh god... Why am I so embarrassed right now???'

Fortunately, his personal angel answered his question, though with a small amount of bitterness. "This is the result of your soul and body getting better synced up, its nothing bad... I guess..." He didn't reply to her, as knowing didn't actually help him. Especially with the growing comments he could hear from the surroundings.

...

After being pulled around for a little while, Ben managed to calm himself down and stopped blushing. Once he'd calmed down, he took an active role in walking with the girls as he held their hands.

With beaming smiles on their faces, Gwen and Keira walked close to Ben's side, travelling around the convention and just enjoying themselves.

Of course, all the 'magic' here, was nothing more than tricks and slight of hand, but the mundane goings-on around them was more than welcome. For them, it was just nice that there wasn't something out to get them and Ben wasn't fighting to the death for once.

Unfortunately, as a main character, trouble is always following Ben, so it was only a matter of time before something happened. As they were watching someone pull a rabbit out of a hat, a sudden cacophony of screams sounded out and disrupted their moment of relaxation.

Because they didn't feel like they had much choice, they followed the crowd to the source and ended up outside, where they reunited with Max and saw that an escape stunt had gone wrong.

A man in a straight jacket was hanging upside-down from a rope, which was attached to a helicopter that was going out of control. Seeing this, Ben sighed tiredly and was about to go help, but stopped as he thought of something, so he quickly cast an illusion spell.

Turning to look at Gwen, he asked her. "Gwen, are you wearing your charms?" Hearing his question, she nodded while confused, but he then explained. "Okay. Well then, focus on the helicopter and stop it from moving, then slowly lower it and the man to the ground."

Understanding what he wanted, Gwen looked at him nervously, not feeling confident in her skills. She was about to voice her insecurities, but Ben gave her a reassuring smile, showing that he fully believes in her and that it would all be fine.

His smile and belief in her bolstered her confidence, so she nodded determinedly and intensely stared at the helicopter. In her mind, she pictured it stopping in mid-air as if an invisible hand was holding it. It took a moment for her to really focus, but when she did, not only did the helicopter stop just short of crashing into a building, but the propellers and even the bound man stopped in place.

Gwen's eyebrows furrowed in concentration and she began moving them down to the ground carefully. A moment later and they were just about down, but her mind was tired by the effort she gave and she accidentally set them down a bit roughly. Either way, the people were safe and she had succeeded wonderfully.

Seeing her do so well, Ben was proud of her and hugged her tightly as he quietly spoke to her. "Good job, Gwen! I knew you could do it."

Hearing his praise, she smiled happily and returned the hug, rubbing her cheek against him in joy. "Thanks."

Ben was also happy with this outcome. The reason he had Gwen save him, was so that she could gain the confidence boost she'd missed from beating Hex. She didn't even have the 'Lucky girl' outfit, so even though this wasn't the same as what she would have gotten, it was a good start.

Next to the two of them, Keira was also feeling proud of Gwen's success, but seeing that she wasn't getting Ben's affection as well, she pouted jealously. Luckily for her, Gwen saw this and reached out, grabbing her with a laugh and pulling her into the hug.

A few feet away, Max was also proud of his Granddaughter, but seeing that they were having their moment, he decided not to intervene and for watching them happily.

....

Once the three kids had finished hugging each other, they went back into the convention with Max. They looked around a bit more before finally going over to a slightly crowded stage, where people were showing off their 'magic' for some competition.

The next competitor was just making his way out on to the stage. He started off by asking for someone from the crowd to join him and picked someone at random. But, just as he was about to begin, he was interrupted by red mist entering from a skylight which looked to be corroded.

Spiralling down from above, the mist made contact with the stage and blew the two on it off to the side with a small blast. When the mist dispersed, it reveal am man a skull painted on his face, Hex.

Next to him, was a girl in her teens, dressed in a magenta coat with purple at the ends, underneath she wears purple pants with black straps around them, with a Magical Charm Bag around her waist. She has long silver hair in a ponytail, the tips of which looked to be dyed purple, matching her purple lipstick. This was Charmcaster, the niece of Hex.

Upon seeing that Hex had still arrived, a coldness erupted from Ben, as his demeaner took a dangerous turn.

The contestant of the magic show didn't see to understand what was happening, as he complained about his act being ruined. Hex didn't care for the guy however, as he raised what had to be new staff and made the man float into the air, before being pushed back.

Hex faced the crowd and made a demand. "Give me the Keystone of Bezel!" The crowd just stared at him in confusion and thought that this was part of an act. Realising this, Hex raised his staff and said. "If it's magic you want, then it is magic you shall have!" The staff glowed and the ground began erupting around them, causing clouds of red dust to appear all over.

Being attacked by Hex, the civilians realised that they were in danger and began scurrying away like ants.

The only one that didn't run, were Ben and the other three. Max and the girls were on guard, but Ben just remained still, coldly looking at Hex. Hex and Charmcaster saw that only four people remained and upon closer inspection, Hex somewhat recognised Max from the museum.

Seeing Max as no threat, Hex simply ignored him and moved his gaze away, which is when he laid eyes on Ben. Noticing how relaxed the boy in front of him was, not to mention the cold and dangerous aura he felt, Hex was kind of wary of Ben. His sense of caution quickly disappeared though, as his arrogance as 'MaSTeR MaGicIoN' took over.

Charmcaster also looked at the four strangers, more or less disinterested in them. Well, that was until she noticed Ben's good looks and gained a small blush.

Hex stepped forward and pointed his staff at them. "You have the Keystone of Bezel, GIVE IT TO ME!"

Gwen defensively took a step back, but relaxed when Ben stepped in front of her and finally spoke while staring down Hex. "I'm only going to say this once because I don't want to spoil my mood further... Get lost!"

Hex and Charmcaster stared at the boy in front of them. For Charmcaster, she was actually kind of impressed, as she had never heard someone talk to her uncle like that. Hex on the other hand, became enraged, so he directed his staff at Ben and shot a magic blast at him as he shouted. "Impudent boy, DIE!!!"

The magic flew through the air quickly and slammed into Ben's face, but this was only because Ben didn't feel any danger and so, didn't dodge or block the attack. Not to mention, Gwen was behind him, so he wouldn't dodge anyways.

Because of the attack, Ben's head went back slightly, but all it really did was enrage him. He looked forward again, at the shocked Hex, his eyes were wide with rage as he snarled out. "Wrong choice." Lifting his left hand into the air, he started gripping at seemingly nothing, making for a confusing scene. But, the confusion ended when Hex began to rise of the ground and grasping at his neck, struggling to breath.

Stepping forward, Ben's eyes glowed maliciously as he closed his fist more, not to kill him, but rather to make him suffer. As his hand closed, Hex's arms and legs twisted horrifically, clearly not meant to do so. If not for the fact that he was being choked, Hex would surely be screaming in agony.

Despite the severity of the punishment Ben was projecting on to Hex, it wasn't enough to quell his accumulated rage and his hand began crackling with red Force lightning. Slowly, his fingers extended and the lightning shot forth, into Hex's body, quickly causing him to begin smoking from being cooked alive.

Fortunately, Max had taken it upon himself to cover Gwen and Keira's eyes from the terrible sight. Off to the side however, Charmcaster was witnessing the scene in full though and slowly began moving away in horror.

Unfortunately for Charmcaster, her movement worked against her, as she only drew Ben's attention. Noticing that Charmcaster was moving backward, he saw it as her trying to escape, so he turned his head towards her and suddenly raised his right hand towards her, just like he'd done with her uncle. "Where do you think you're going!?"

Similarly to her uncle, she was raised into the air and began grasping at her neck in vain. She quickly teared up and began crying, as she saw her death before her. Ben was fully intending to kill her right now and was just a muscle twitch away from doing so.

It was only the sound of Max's voice that saved her. "Ben! Please, don't do it!"

Max's voice drew Ben's attention as he rapidly turned his head to look at him, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. But, when he looked at Max and saw him shielding the girls eyes with a saddened expression, he calmed down slightly.

With sad eyes, Max looked at his enraged Grandson. "I know your angry, but don't let your anger make you do something that you might regret..."

Ben heard Max's words and calmed down enough to think clearly. He looked back at Charmcaster and saw her pitiful appearance, as she cried and struggled, having lost control of her body from fear and wet herself. Seeing her like this, his rage reduce significantly and he loosened his hold over her, lowering her to the grown. If there was one thing he'd never liked doing, it was killing children, so he decided to let her live.

Once Charmcaster was on the ground, she began coughing and gasping for air. She wanted nothing more than to escape, but that proved to be an unlikely feat, as she looked up and saw Ben standing over her. He'd stopped electrocuting Hex and looked down at her. "I won't kill you, but if you try anything against us, I will show you what Hell is like... Let me demonstrate."

Turning around, Ben transformed into Ghostfreak and possessed Hex. Getting up even with the mangled limbs, Hex's body began contorting and jerking around. Then in front of her, her uncles body looked at her with glowing red eyes, before speaking with ghostly echo. "This will only be a fraction of what will happen..." And suddenly, Hex's head did a full 180 degree turn and his neck audibly snapped, before his body lifelessly dropped to the ground.

[Sorcerer Hex has been defeated - 400xp has been gained]

Seeing her uncles body in such a state, she almost threw up from the disturbing sight, but held it down.

With Hex dead, Ben consumed his soul and exited the dead body. His form momentarily shifted to a much creepier one, before returning to normal as he loomed over Charmcaster. "Am I understood??"

Understanding that she wasn't going to die, her tears stopped falling. With her tear stained face, she nervously nodded, not even glancing at her uncles corpse.

Ben continued to stare at her for a moment, before turning and changing into XLR8, which is when he grabbed the corpse and started running around. As he ran, he checked for security cameras, but found none.

He put the corpse in his inventory and returned to the others, changing back to his normal self. Before anything, he coldly looked at Charmcaster from the corner of his eye and ordered he. "Get up and follow." He saw her nod and then looked over to Max.

Taking a few deep breaths, Ben smiled at Max and nodded, assuring him that he was good as he said. "We should get going before the police get here."

Max nodded in agreement and sighed, relieved that Ben didn't kill the girl. He released Gwen and Keira now that there was nothing to see, not that it would have mattered, as without him or Ben realising, both Gwen and Keira had developed a dangerous mindset when it comes to Ben.

Gwen and Keira ran over to Ben, checking him over, focusing on his head where he'd been hit with the attack. Ben tried and failed to assure them that he wasn't hurt, so he picked them up and started making his way out of the building with Max. He looked back to make sure that Charmcaster was following and saw she was, so he looked forward again.

His vigilance and harsh attitude towards her wasn't because he didn't like her, but because he didn't like that a potential enemy knew his face. It was a danger to his family, especially with how she might seek revenge for her uncle.

What he didn't know, was that Charmcaster absolutely hated her uncle and was actually happy that he was gone. The only reason she listened to him, was because she had to. Plus, with the display he'd just shown, she'd rather kill herself before becoming his enemy. So, she obediently followed him, not wanting to anger him.

Besides, he told her to follow him, so he would probably take care of her to some degree and even that would be better than her time with Hex. She could only do what he said and hope that her fate would improve from what it was before.

...

The now group of five swiftly made their way to the Rustbucket and got inside, with Max immediately getting behind the steering wheel and getting them the heck out of there.

Because Charmcaster had peed herself earlier, Ben got a towel for her and pointed her to the shower. "You can get yourself cleaned in there. If you give me your clothes, I'll get them cleaned for you."

"Thank you..." She nodded nervously as she took the towel. But, she also informed him on something. "You don't have to clean my clothes though, I can do it with magic..."

"Fine..." He grunted dismissively and turned away from her. Seeing his cold attitude, Charmcaster looked down and made her way into the bathroom for her shower. As she got undressed, she could hear a conversation through the door.

After Charmcaster had went inside the bathroom, Ben went to the kitchen area and started preparing to make lunch for everybody. Sitting at the table, Gwen and Keira were confused by the way he was acting, so the inquired to about it. "Hey, Ben, why are you being so rude to that girl?"

"I don't know what her intentions are, that's why..." He answered their curiosity with turning to them. "I don't know if she is a friend or not. She knows our faces, so if she becomes an enemy, there is no telling what she might do."

After listening to him, it was Keira who spoke out with some wise words. "Well, I think you should be nicer to her. We don't know what her life has been like, so she might have struggled a lot and did what she had to do to survive. Kind of like me..." Remembering her time living on the streets, Keira was saddened for a moment, but quickly perked up. "Besides, you'll never know if she will be a friend if you never treat her like one!"

Hearing such maturity coming from the most immature of the group, everyone looked at Keira with surprise. Even Max looked at his rear view mirror in surprise, before smiling with pride and looking back at the road.

Ben blinked a few times as he stared at her, before eventually dropping his shoulders and smiling wryly. "Well, I can't argue with you on that... I'll start being nicer." He turned back to what he was doing and muttered to himself. "I'm probably just wound up from yesterday anyways..."

Hearing that Ben agreed with her, Keira straightened her back and smiled proudly at herself. Her moment of glory was cut short when she saw Gwen's face suddenly appear in front of her.

Gwen was looking at Keira as if she were inspecting her, looking for anything out of place. "Who are you and what have you done with Keira?"

Pouting, Keira felt offended for some reason as she asked. "What's that supposed to mean?" And she would quickly figure out why.

Gwen stood straight and pointed at Keira with the most serious expression she could muster. "There is no way that Keira could say something so smart and mature! You have to be a fake!"

"Wha-" Shocked at what she heard, she could even find the words to retort. Soon after though, her brow furrowed and she stood up with her fist raised. "That's it! Get here you-"

"Eek~" Letting out a playful squeak, Gwen ran to the back of the RV and Keira quickly followed her. They both began play fighting while Ben chuckle in amusement and shook his head.

Meanwhile, inside the bathroom, Charmcaster finally got in the shower and turned it on. She looked down as the water fell on her and smiled. 'I think this might be quite nice...'

(I decided to go for a bit of a mixed image for Charmcaster. Primarily the Classic version, but with the purple tips from Omniverse. Also, what should I call Charmcaster? Hope or Heather?

Hope is the classics name.

Heather is the reboot.)

[Status -

Name - Ben

Lv - 50 (46,260/80,000)

Title - Wielder of the Omnitrix, Anti-Hero, Idol Slayer

State - Healthy MP - 9633

STR - 3510

END - 3511

AGI - 3510

CHA - 3512

INT - 185

LUK - 666

AP - 89 SP - 1,416,850

Primary Skills: CQC Lv-5, Marksmanship Lv-5, Intimidation Lv-5, Danger Sense Lv-4, Sneak Lv-4, Mana Manipulation Lv-2

Secondary Skills: Drawing Lv-3, Math Lv-4, Science Lv-4, Writing Lv-3, Maneuvering Lv-5, Driving Lv-4, Engineering Lv-5, Cooking Lv-4, Pain Tolerance Lv-9, Bioengineering Lv-5, Programming Lv-5, Torture Lv-2, Acting Lv-3

Unique Skill: Wrath, Love and Lust, Gluttony, Complete Language Comprehension, Eidetic Memory, Analyse, Night Vision, The Force]

(2 Recoveries Stored)