trans_9 | TV, Junk Food and Sumos [Bendytimed to after Pod Pop]

The sound of manly grunting, yells and otherwise loud shouts from a large screen could be heard as accompanied by the sound of crunching and the noise of a drink being emptied with a few slurps. In a far corner of the Media Library, there was a area that was termed "Ben's Corner" which was a rather elaborate set up. A futon rolled out on a table against the wall, a large screen complete with media playback device, and the remains of snack food, mostly popcorn laying to the side.

Ben's hand was dipping into the bowl again, crunching a large handful of popcorn once more as he watched Sumo Slammers on what amounted to a wide screen television. He had found records of media from his homeworld, Sumo Slammers Classic and Hero Generation, and a third unreleased season called Evolutions and was enthralled by his favorite television show. Slurping from his drink, he clicked fast forward through the credits and set up the next episode.

"Man what time is it?" he wondered, looking at the Omnitrix which stared back at him without displaying the time. Shrugging, he ate another handful of popcorn and sipped his drink. "Boy I hope the bus doesn't miss a sudden dip in junk food."

Ben belched, a resounding echoing noise across the Media Library before he settled back down for another episode.

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"Sounds like a full time job," admitted Ben. "There's a lot I had to rebuild after a few attacks."

"You don't have to rebuild a whole planet," Tenaya insisted, shaking her head.

There was one upside to being mostly mechanical: the memories she did have were always crisp and clear, like a recording. She thought back on the sight of the grass-covered mountain, the lake, the wildflowers, and the sound of the birds with a sad smile. "We were so relieved to see something green in the middle of the wasteland. The ecosystem was finally healing."

"That's good then. Gives you hope that things are finally going your way," said Ben with a grin.

"Or they were at any rate," Tenaya pointed out, reminding him of the little "end of the universe" detail.

"Right, forgot about that," said Ben sheepishly.

"Forgot about the end of the world?" Tenaya asked sardonically. Now that was a Ziggy thing. "Lucky you."

"Well hey, I try not to dwell on it. Makes me feel like I failed big time," said Ben, slurping on his drink.

"You've got to be kidding," Tenaya declared. "You're denying the whole thing to avoid responsibility, and you just sit around watching TV and eating snacks?" If Flynn had yelled and dragged her to stop moping around Dillon and try to help them, he probably would have slapped Ben.

"Well put it simply? What can I do? There isn't any way we can fight the Ohm directly, OR find a way to restore our family and friends to the rightful places!" protested Ben. "If I was trying to resemble a sense of sanity, then I wouldn't be doing this, eating snacks and trying to drown myself in Sumo Slammers!"

"This is something I never understood about Corinth," Tenaya said flatly. "You're on the edge of destruction, you're constantly being attacked, and everything you ever had is gone. But you try and act like everything's normal. It's not. How hard is it really to just deal?"

Yeah. Coming from the woman who had run off in horror and denial when she realized she could bleed like a human, tried to kill her brother to stop the flood of memories, and had to be wrestled into fighting in the final battle when she wasn't willing to leave her comatose brother's side. Yeah, that was dealing.

Ben was silent for a moment, and munched on a kernel. "You think I don't know that? I'm the last, everyone else is in pod sleep or dead. I lost not only my world, but five whole galaxies along with it. I have a device on my wrist, that if I let the charge build up, I could take out the entire ship and then some. So yeah, I know what it means to be responsible."

"I've already lost everything," Tenaya said. "Almost the entire Earth was destroyed by a computer virus. My brother and I were captured and experimented on and had machinery and the virus implanted in our bodies, and we both lost our memories. He escaped, but I didn't. I got almost completely converted to machine, and until he cut me, I thought I was a machine. Then just when I thought I could get everything back, I was captured again and reprogrammed. The only way they brought me back was through a painful antidote, and my brother nearly died to save me. And after all of that, he's gone anyway. That's failure."

A lot of that hit way too close to home. The way he thought he lost his cousin all the time, and the various problems that cropped up during the battles...

"I understand. There's a few things that reminds me of that."

"It's not easy," Tenaya insisted. "But it's something you've got to live through."

"Yeah, true enough." Ben munched on a pair of kernels and swallowed. "Perhaps tomorrow I'll see what's going on."

Tenaya shrugged. "As long as you try to live."

TV, Junk Food and Sumos [Bendytimed to after Pod Pop]

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