CH 26: Alistair VS Ben P2 (E5)

(A/N: Has anybody watched Loonatics Unleashed? Man, this show rocked back then. I swear Spider-Man 1994 Black Cat and Lexi from Loonatics Unleashed were the ones to give me my taste for confident and cool girls.)

Fire and ice clashed, fighting to push back one another as Heatblast's angry voice came :"When I step in, it's my responsibility if somebody gets hurt! Why?! Because if I hadn't butted in, there could have been a chance that person didn't die because of me! That the damage I cause to my surroundings in the fight could have been prevented if I let the police do their thing instead of some kids playing heroes!

You're right, I do pray! Pray and hope that what I do in the moment is enough to save one more life! That I'm not stupid enough to cause somebody to die because of me! Because of me being too much of an idiot to do something just by myself!"

Moving one hand to the side, he shot another beam of fire that curved to hit Wynter from his blindspot. But in the last second, he went intangible. Causing both fires to phase through him. But as the brightness of the fire passed, he felt a punch landing on his cheek, causing him to step back several times.

He looked around to see Ben, but simply felt another punch landing square on his face and pushing him back again as Ghostfreak's sound came :"The pressure is too much! So much that just rushing in and getting into the action is the only way for me to not let it mess me up!"

An Interesting fact that he had heard from Alistair was that two intangibilities canceled each other out. When he gut checked Wynter, the Necrofriggian was quick to move and grab his neck :"You think everybody's like you?! Always calm and planning five steps ahead?! Well guess what, I'm not like you!"

Growling, Wynter headbutted him again and again, restraining his hands and overpowering him thanks to his experience in fighting. Groaning after each hit, Ghostfreak managed to free himself before green and red flashed, revealing Stinkfly and Brainstacean.

Opening the exoskeleton plates covering his massive brain, Brainstacean shot a current of electricity. But Stinkfly took off to the air, maneuvering skillfully and dodging his attacks :"I get scared! I get afraid and nervous that if I don't do something as quickly as possible, something will happen that will make me wish I hadn't hesitated!

Because I'm an idiot who knows something like that will happen if I don't solve something quickly! That's why I just decide to move and just rush face into any danger to solve it as fast as possible!"

Dodging Brainstacean's attacks, he shot several slimes at him. Managing to hit him and restrain him in place. Struggling against the sticky substance, he found himself unable to break free. So he transformed into Toxitile (Toxic+Reptile), the predator of Stinkfly.

Dissolving the slimes with his acidic breath, he growled before transforming into MantAstral and taking to the sky, chasing after Stinkfly. Dodging his slime projectiles left and right. Shooting a beam of laser, he managed to stop him momentarily before transforming right above him and bringing him crashing down to the ground as Toxitile again.

Keeping him down and growling in front of his face, he listened to his best friend who was angry out of anxiousness, nervousness and sadness :"Because I know that you have my back! Because I know that if I do something stupid, you're there to help me fix and stop it from hurting anybody else!"

"AND THAT'S WHY I'M TELLING YOU ALL THIS, YOU DUMBASS!" Menace came back with a roar :"IT'S SO THAT YOU KNOW HAVE TO BE CAREFUL! BECAUSE IF NOT, THE GUILT THAT YOU'LL FEEL WHEN SHIT HITS THE FAN IS ALL YOUR OWN FAULT!!

AND LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHING, BEN TENNYSON WHO I LOVE PLATONIC AND WILL FUCK UP THE WORLD FOR! EVERY WORD THAT CAME OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MOUTH AT THE END IS GODDAMN FUCKING RIGHT, BITCH! AND YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT WITH YOUR VERY FUCKING SOUL AND EVERY FABRIC OF YOUR EXISTENCE! BECAUSE IF NOT, I'LL BEAT IT INTO YOUR BITCH ASS!"

Although still frustrated, very much so, Stinkfly couldn't help laughing between small sniffles :"Then couldn't we have this freaking conversation more calmly, you jerk?! Did you have to make me so frustrated?!"

Getting up with a grunt, Menace freed Stinkfly :"LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHING, BEN TENNYSON! ALISTAIR FUCKING ALIYEV DOESN'T HAVE THE HEART TO SCOLD AND BREAK THE HARSH THROUGH TO THE BELOVED HOMIES HE CARES SO MUCH ABOUT!

SO IT WAS EITHER MENACE DELIVERING IT, OR E (Ego), WHO YOU CAN BET YOUR ASS THAT WOULD GO ABOVE AND BEYOND TO HUMILIATE YOU! SO YOUR UNGRATEFUL ASS BETTER BE HAPPY THAT IT WAS THE NORMAL MENACE THAT MESSED YOU UP AND NOT THE E VERSION OF MENACE! THAT'S RESERVED FOR PEOPLE WHO I HAVE PREMIUM BEEF WITH!"

"Hahahaha, yeah, I guess I should be." Stinkfly transformed back —really not wanting to fight anymore— and wiped his nose and a few stray tears that had popped up. Menace followed suit, turning back to Alistair as he held up a hand for Ben to take, a guilty look on his face :"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Ben nodded as he let him help him up. Sighing, Alistair rubbed his neck with a sad look :"Listen, I'm sorry it went that way, but I had to let you understand. It's not that I'm frustrated or angry with how you do it, but because I care about you that I get annoyed.

Whenever I think that you're going to regret something because of your rashness, I feel guilty myself, because I wasn't a good enough friend to help you fix and better your ways. We're best friends, we're supposed to be there and help each other out. If I weren't to help you, who would?"

"I know, Al." Ben smiled, eyes a bit red before he hugged Alistair tightly, surprising him :"And thanks for being a good friend, bud. Thanks for looking out for me and always having my back. I always wanted to say it, but never had the chance or face."

Chuckling, he hugged Ben back just as tightly :"You're welcome, Benji. I'll have your back and help you no matter what it takes. You better believe that with your very soul and every fabric of your existence, because otherwise~..."

Laughing, Ben pulled back and wiped the last of the sadness from his eyes :"Yeah, heard and remember it loud and clear, captain." Giving a salute and pulling a laugh from Alistair, who punched his shoulder gently :"Dork. Come on, let's rest. You took one hell of a beating."

"Oh, screw you-" Ben rolled his eyes, but froze when he saw Max and Gwen looking at them in surprise. Specifically, at him. He rubbed his neck with an embarrassed blush :"Oh, dang it... this is so embarrassing..."

Max smiled gently :"It shouldn't be, son." He patted his back :"To realize and under those things is nothing to be embarrassed about. It's called growth, and I'm proud of you for it."

Even Gwen smiled :"You know what, for once, you were cool instead of a total dweeb." Causing Ben to roll his eyes sarcastically :"Gee, thanks. Makes me so happy to hear that." But instead of arguing, his cousin just chuckled :"And you should be. Because I sure am to have a cousin who knows what a true hero's all about. And I'm sure your parents would be proud too if they were here."

As Ben looked away with an even harsher blush, pursing his lips and frowning in embarrassment, Alistair suddenly laughed as he walked into the RV :"Oh, don't worry! They'll see what happened and will be proud about it from home! Just like all our other dear viewers, Benji!"

"Wait, what?!" Ben's eyes widened in horror, running after Alistair immediately :"Alistair, you're —not— putting that in the show!" But from the inside, where Max and Gwen couldn't see, Alistair just laughed while probably dodging whatever Ben wanted to do :"Oh, I'm definitely putting it in!

In fact, the part you don't want in the show is the part that's even more important than our entire spar! Hell, I'd even delete that entire fight to make sure that part definitely stays!"

"No, you, are, NOT!" As they walked in as well, they saw Ben pouncing on Alistair. But he simply dodged and sat on his back to restrain him instead :"Yes, I, am! It's called character development, Benji. It's the best part of every show."

"But I was so lame~." He whined, giving up on breaking free. Alistair patted his head with a smile :"Believe me, it wasn't. It was, in fact, cooler than every time you fought. And I promise, our millions of viewers are going to love it."

'Maybe a bit too much, actually. I've already begun seeing signs of the fujoshis (yaoi loving girls) appearing in our comment section... ugh, can't even be homies normally with all these women fetishizing us. They all want one thing between normal homies and it's fucking disgusting.' He groaned internally.

But the others acted completely differently when they heard him. "Millions?!" They said in shock, Ben straining his neck to look back at him :"We actually have a million views?!" Gwen looked flabbergasted too :"A million?! Seriously?! Are you sure you counted the digits correctly?!"

Smirking, Alistair climbed off of Ben and opened his laptop :"Why don't you see it yourself? Also, I never said —one— million. I said millions." Going to their channel on YouTube, he showed the view count of the multiple episodes that he had posted. Which had already hit 10 digits and rising by the second. Not surprising considering how hard he worked in quickly popularizing YouTube and Predator & Savior.

"Oh, damn, the view count on each one has gone over 10 millions!" He himself looked surprised :"Damn, this got good pretty quickly. Hell, the movie versions have even higher view counts! Hahahahaha, this is even better than I had expected!"

"Holy moly..." Max said in shock, while Ben and Gwen high-fived with both hands :"We're famous!" They shouted, jumping up and down excitedly. Chuckling at their reaction and feeling proud of himself, Alistair went to the comment section. The movie versions', of course.

He saw a variety of comments. All of which he had expected to see. Comments about enjoying the show, comments about how amazing the CGI was, comments about how interesting the plot was, comments about wanting more episodes, comments about what was the release schedule, and just a few hate comments.

They couldn't even be found with how few they were, but after having his little A.I search for them, they weren't hard to find and for him to clap back. Internet rule 101, don't be nice to an asshole on the internet. If you wanted to hear what an asshole wanted to say, you could always just fart.

But a specific group of comments caught his attention more. Comments that made him smile mischievously.

"Wait, didn't this actually happen? I'm talking about the animal guy"

"Yeah, I saw it on the news! It's him, isn't it?! Dr Animo!"

"I heard about what happened in episode 1 too! There was this huge robot that showed up in a campsite and started blasting everywhere!"

"And that a giant dinosaur or something showed up and killed it? Something that looks way too similar to what's in episode 1?"

"I was there when that animal freak showed up! I was shopping when he showed up and started messing up the store!"

"Seriously?! What happened next?!"

"Exactly what happened in the 2nd episode! A weird spikey dog with no eyes showed up and just mutilated the frog and the hamster or whatever it was!"

"OMG, isn't that Predator?!"

"You guys don't actually think that this is real, right?"

"That whatever weird creatures that have been dealing with freaks and criminals are just two kids? My logic says no, but these movies are way too realistic for my heart to say no too."

"[Then you'll just have to wait and see.]" He replied to the comment with a mischievous grin :'Oh, this is gonna get so interesting so fast.' And took a sip of the milkshake he had kept in the fridge.

(A/N: Man, writing this specific chapter while listening to Memory Reboot hit different.)