7th Transformation [Action]

[omnitrixter]

[Scenario A]
"More..."

The blue alien was starting to go on a rampage. Where before he'd stop a bad guy and then eat whatever metal was nearby, now he was eating it wherever he went. In less than two days, he'd eaten a car wash, its sign, and a giant metal statue of a cartoon character eating a burger.

Big Chill--and by extension Ben 10--was swiftly becoming less a hero and more of a menace.

Right now, he was snacking on a skyscraper's exposed girders.

[Scenario B]
Ben walked along as if in a trance. There were dark circles under his eyes from apparently restless nights that he couldn't remember clearly. On top of that, he'd found himself waking up in a ditch more often that not nowadays. He was tired and even hungrier than usual. Sometimes he just blanked out at random points in the middle of the day.

Of course, should someone bother him, he'd be irritable and snappish and nowhere near like his normal self. And if someone picked a fight with him, he'd be more than happy to take them up on it. He'd even been getting into trouble at school because of it.

[Scenario C - Gwen Tennyson Only]
"I really appreciate you coming over to talk to him," Sandra told her niece. "He just hasn't been himself lately. Getting into fights at school, ditching class, snapping at us...I know teenagers can be difficult, but it's like a pod person has taken over for my son."

While she and Carl could be very hands-off and let Ben make his own decisions, the phone calls of delinquent behavior were getting worse, not better. Hopefully his favorite cousin could straighten him back out.

Comments

[Scenario B]

[whitescalesbigmouth]

[Well no thanks to a certain Blue moth-like alien. Saft's had to walk to school and she's none too happy about it.

As she walks up to her locker and grumbles away to herself about the incident from a few nights ago, she notices Ben just...well-- looking kind of odd. She smirks a little to herself and then goes to grab some books she might need for today's lessons ahead of her.]

Looks like someone decided to cram a buttload of homework into one night.

That's what you get for spending all your time playing video-games.

[She doesn't mean anything by it of course becaue, key they're kids it's what happens sometimes but her tone could probably be taken the wrong way.]

[omnitrixter]

[Given how sensitive Ben is right now and how uncomfortable he is even in his own skin...]

Riiiiight. Because the only reason I'd have for not getting much sleep would be because I'm playing video games all the time. Thanks for clearing that up.

[...totally taking it the wrong way.]

[whitescalesbigmouth]

...Geeze, what crawled up your butt and decided to live there?

[She closes her locker and frowns a little at him.] It's called a joke? And you're really lucky I'm still in the mood to make them around you. Since someone decided to make a meal out of my bike!

That's what we get for living in a city full of supers.

[omnitrixter]

I'd just like to go a day with somebody riding me over something.

[He jerks his own locker open and shoves his bag inside after pulling out his math book. Ugh. He hates math. Why does he have to have it first thing?]

[He doesn't even react to the comment about her bike. It's just another day in Venture City when it comes to property damage. Besides, he hasn't been heroing in almost a month.]

[whitescalesbigmouth]

I wasn't riding over anything, But seriously...things probably aren't as bad as you're making out. Go take a chill pill or something because that attitude of yours isn't going to help you get through the rest of today.

[And this would be the part where she's just going to attempt to move on because she actually has better things to do than waste her time on someone who just seems like he's out to cause trouble for whatever dumb reason.

That and well if she's not careful she's going to get just as grouchy back and wind up setting something on fire again.]

[omnitrixter]

Thanks for the advice. [Yay sarcasm!]

[The halls are starting to empty out, so Ben closes his locker harder than is really necessary and spins the lock. He then starts heading towards his math class.]

[If Saft doesn't stop him, he'll turn a corner and there will be the heavy sound of a textbook dropping to the ground.]

[whitescalesbigmouth]

[Well, she's not one to get involved unless it's someone she actually knows...So there goes that textbook.

Uh oh. Looks like someone could still use some help. She better go check if he needs any help getting to class.]

[omnitrixter]

[Ben's book, notebook, calculator, and pencil are on the floor. Ben himself is heading towards the exit as if in a trance.]

[whitescalesbigmouth]

What the-?

[Saft leans down and makes a grab for Ben's equipment as he heads off, a small part of herself is telling her to to hang onto these and try and work out where his class is so she can tell the teacher he's probably not going to turn up to class today but the other part is now concerned about this kid's wellfare...

She decides to put his things in her locker for the time being and carry on after him on foot.]

Hey, wait a minute! You're supposed to be going to class!

[omnitrixter]

[Heads out the door and turns right, moving out of view.]

[Once there, he raises his left wrist, right hand going to the watch. If she doesn't catch up in the next few seconds, she's going to be greeted by a bright green light.]

[whitescalesbigmouth]

[Yeah, the kid wasn't quite fast enough so she's going to get hit in the face by some pretty bright green lightage there.]

[omnitrixter]

[And guess what's taking off into the sky as your vision clears? Well, just after he finishes chowing down on a light pole?]

[thesmartone]

"I'll do what I can." She offered her aunt a reassuring smile before heading to Ben's room.

A light knock is followed by her voice. On a good day she'd probably just go into his room without knocking, but Ben's been acting strange and she's noticed it. She doesn't want to start a fight before she can even get a word in edgewise. "Ben, it's Gwen, can I come in?"

[omnitrixter]

Ben was sitting on his bed with his knees up to his chest, the curtains drawn so that nobody could see him from outside. He'd wanted to take a nap, but that skin crawling feeling of not being in the right skin wouldn't let him sleep. On top of that, he wasn't even sure what was happening anymore.

He curled himself slightly around his knees, putting his head down.

"Fine. Whatever. You'd probably just come in anyways."

[thesmartone]

She let out a quiet but heavy sigh before opening the door and coming in. She doesn't say anything until she's sitting on the bed by him, frown on her face. She's not sure how to broach the topic of Ben being weird. At least not sure how to broach it without causing him to fly off the handle. So instead of saying anything outright about his weird behavior she decides to ask a question instead.

"Ben, is everything okay?"

[omnitrixter]

"No, everything is not okay!" Ben snapped, lifting his head slightly to glare at her with one eye. "Just ask my mom. She'll tell you all about it."

Not that his mom knew what was his deal. Not even Ben knew what his deal was.

He rolled his eye over to his nightstand where an empty pickle jar--one of many--was sitting on the edge of it. Darn it. He was out. Again.

[thesmartone]

"I'm not asking her I'm asking you"

She's trying to be a supportive cousin here. Her eyes followed Ben's to the empty jar. What was in it? Probably something really gross knowing Ben. He had some of the strangest tastes in things. Not Grandpa Max strange, but strange and unhealthy all the same.

[omnitrixter]

If Gwen turned the jar around, she'd see the label still on it and realize that it was a jar of your run-of-the-mill bread and butter pickles. Nothing weird at all.

Well, nothing weird this time. The past month had been filled with all kinds of weird food combinations.

"I don't know! I just...I feel wrong!" he said, resting his chin on his knees with a huff. "And I'm always hungry but I can't get what it is that I need!"

He then glared across the room at nothing.

"I stood up to Marcus from the baseball team today," Ben said. "I actually fought back against him for the first time just for me and not covering for somebody else. He tried to punch me in the stomach, and I got him on the ground. And what does the principal do? He calls my parents and threatens to suspend me for defending myself!"

[thesmartone]

Ok, that was weird. Ben might be a superhero but he wasn't the type of person to get into pointless school fights. Marcus probably had started it, but Ben wasn't the type to 'finish it' as it were. The fact that he had was something that worried her; but this wasn't the time to address that. Instead she decided to focus on what he'd said before that. She's guessing it's not the flu or something like that. Ben would at least know what that felt like. Maybe it was an alien flu or something.

"Sick to your stomach wrong or something else?" Maybe he was having a premonition. She'd been reading up on those recently.

[omnitrixter]

"Everything feels wrong! But mostly it's like I somehow put on someone else's skin. I look like I should, but I don't feel like I should!" Ben snapped.

How was he supposed to explain it to her? She'd never been in any body but her own...well, that he knew about. Who knew what kind of crazy spells she had in her arsenal that she just hadn't found a use for yet?

[thesmartone]

She frowns heavily.

"Maybe it has something to do with the watch." If there was something going on with it then they needed to see Grandpa Max as soon as possible. What if one of the alien's DNA was trying to corrupt Ben's or something? She could end up with a mutated cousin.

[omnitrixter]

"But I haven't used the watch all month!" Ben said angrily. "How can it be affecting me if I'm not using it?"

He put his chin down on his knees, sighing at a sudden wave of depression, his mood swinging wildly.

"At least I don't think I have."

[thesmartone]

"What do you mean you don't think you have?" How could he be using it without knowing he's using it? Gwen was pretty sure using the watch was an active thing. As in he had to hit it to use it.

[omnitrixter]

"There's reports of Big Chill going around causing a lot of damage, but I don't remember doing any of that," Ben admitted after a moment a silence. "And I...I keep waking up in a ditch outside of town."

[thesmartone]

That was a lot more disturbing then anything else he'd said so far. They still didn't know how the watch worked, and the fact that he might be randomly turning into aliens and doing things he didn't remember worried her. "Have you told anyone else about this?"