(Okay, here is the nicer chapter I promised. Ally belongs to me. Ben 10, Heatblast, Four Arms and Rath belong to Cartoon Network and Man of Action. Rachel Jocklin belongs to GoldGuardian2418.)

The Heart of The Tiger

It had been almost tree weeks since that night when Ally got hurt by Troy, the 14-year-old boy who stole her artwork and sold it online. It was reported to the police and it was later found out that Troy sold them so that he would have enough money to buy more video games. The boy was sentenced to fifteen years in juvenile detention, for piracy and copyright violations and multiple accounts of assault. And to further extend the punishment, Troy was banned to have any video gaming systems of any kind. The news about this was all over the television, and everyone was so upset over the ordeal, especially Rachel Jocklin and Mr. and Mrs. Drewood. The three of them spent almost half of their income to help pay for the surgery on Ally's broken arm, and after days of waiting, Ally was finally ready to go home, with a cast on her arm to help with the healing.

The aliens at the Grant Mansion were happy to hear that Ally was going to be okay, and that the punk was in police custody. No one was more realeved than Rath; he had prayed and wished that the little girl would make it. What he didn't know was that some one was watching him. And that some one was Heatblast, the pyronite. He had never seen this side of Rath before.

Curious, Heatblast came over to Rath while he was in the work out room.

"Hey, Rath. Is everything okay?" He asked the tiger, who turned to him, unnaturally worried yet calm in appearance.

"Rath is fine. Why do you wanna know, Candle Guy?" Rath spoke, crossing his arms and looking out the window, the sun was bright and yellow, the sign of the first day of summer.

"Well, you've been quiet lately, and you don't seemed to be irritated as usual. Does this have to do with Ally?"

Rath flinched at the name and turned to Heatblast. "No, why would Rath care about a little girl?" He growled.

Heatblast held up his hands in defense to calm, Rath down. "Easy, big guy. I was only asking."

Rath just sighed and apologized, again something he would never do. "Rath doesn't know what is wrong with Rath. Why do Rath feel so worried, so scared."

Heatblast could hardly believe what he heard. Was Rath showing his true colors? Did he actually have a heart?

"It is Ally, isn't it?"

"Rath can't help but think about that kid. She was so brave to stand up to that punk, but then look what happened to her. She is hurt." Rath frowned in sadness, but Heatblst placed a hand on the Appoplexians shoulder.

"But think about this, if you hadn't stepped in and saved her, she would have been in much a worser situation. I think you like her." Heatblast said, and Rath stepped back a bit. How did Heatblast know?

"Rath don't like her, Rath just saved her, that's all."

"That is caring, Rath. I know how you feel about her. She is almost like a little sister to me, and I care about her. If you do care for her, it's okay to admit it, it won't ruin your 'tough guy' reputation. I mean it didn't ruin Four Arms reputation, and he likes her almost like a cousin. Four Arms and I are like family to Ally, because we love her and would do anything to keep her safe. Rath, I know you love her as much as I do, and if you tell her she will appreciate that and will love you , too." Heatblast explained to Rath, speaking in a calm voice so that rath would understand. And it worked. Rath did listen and was speechless. Maybe he should tell Ally about his feelings for her. Maybe, just maybe.

One day, Rachel got a call from Mr. Drewood saying that he was going to drop off Ally at her house. Ally had wanted to see Rachel for some reason and wouldn't tell her parents. Rachel knew what was going on; Ally needed to talk to someone other than her parents or her. So she said it was okay for Ally to come over. after waiting for five minutes, the car belonging to Mr. Drewood came to the drive way and Ally came out, were her autographed cast that the kids at school signed. Ally didn't look very happy.

Rachel opened the door, thank Mr. Drewood and walked Ally inside. Once inside, Four Arms and Heatblast were the only ones in the living room to see their little friend and came over, hugging her gently to not damage the cast.

"Hey little cousin, how are you doing?" Asked Four Arms, ruffling Ally's long black hair.

"Ally, are you doing okay?" Heatblast asked, embracing his surrogate sister in his warm arms.

"I'm doing okay. Where is Rath? I need to talk to him for a moment." Ally asked.

"He is upstairs, you need help getting up there, Ally?" Offered Rachel but Ally said she could manage and made her way upstairs, leaving the three friends downstairs.

"Now why would she want to see that mean old flea bag?" Grumbled Four Arms, he still remembered how rath had treated his little buddy, but Heatblast smiled.

"I think she'll be okay." Heatblast chuckled.

As Ally made found the door leading to Rath's room, she knocked carefully so as to not disturb him but let him know that someone was outside. After giving five knocks, the door open and Rath stepped out.

"Who's disturbing Rath's sleep?" He growled, obviously woken from a deep sleep, but then his demeanor changed when he looked down and saw Ally. "Oh, Ally. Uhh...What do you want?" He asked.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked softly.

"Fine, but Rath's room isn't good to look at." Rath warned Ally and she saw what he meant. Scattered chairs, scratches on the walls, and torn blankets were all around the room, showing Ally that Rath would expel his anger in his room. But Rath didn't seem angry at her when she asked if they could talk.

Clearing away some scraps of torn blankets Rath gestured for her to sit down and she did.

"What is wrong Ally?" Rath asked in a soft voice.

"A lot of things. I still remember Troy and what he did to me, steal from me and hurting me, calling me bad names. What parent would let their children do those things?" She said, rubbing her cast in pain, but not real pain just the memory was enough reminder Ally of the pain Troy had inflicted on her.

"Rath don't know if Rath can answer that, but it wasn't the parents fault, it was that punks choice to do those things. He could have done something else but did something wrong, now he's in the slammer." Rath spoke, a little unsure about what he was saying. But Ally understood yet she still felt sad, and shed a small tear that Rath spotted.

"Ally, why are you crying?" Rath asked, but Ally began to cry harder, streams of tears flooding her cheeks and staining her shirt. Rath felt so upset, but not in a bad way, that he thought about what he should do to calm Ally down. He then had an idea.

Inching himself closer to the child, Rath reached over, pulled Ally to his chest and neck, and pressed his nose and mouth to her cheek, and started purring. Ally's tears stopped as she felt the gentle vibrations of the purring, which didn't sound like purring, but a rather deep rumbling, peaceful rumbling sound, emanating from Rath's nose and lips. Rath then stopped purring when Ally's cries stopped and said in a gentle, low voice. "Tell Rath what's wrong."

Sniffling Ally went on. "It's about the contest, I failed to come up with a good drawing to enter, and some other student won. I feel miserable. I feel like I let everyone down. I really wanted my family and friends to feel proud of me when I win, but I have nothing to show for it. Now, thanks to Troy I am a failure." Ally sighed, a small tear dropping to her broken arm.

Rath felt so bad for Ally not being able to compete, but knew that Ally was wrong about calling herself a failure, and that she let everyone down. So, Rath gently touched Ally's cheek and brought her head to his. "Rath may not be the smartest alien around, but Rath knows that you are not a failure. Ally, you may not have won that contest, but you are still a winner to your family and friends. Just seeing you enjoy your work and happy spirit is enough to prove that. What Rath is trying to say is, is that Rath...Uhhh...Rath... like you." He then smiled a kind smile, and Ally was astounded to hear him say those nice things to her.

"Do you? Really?" She gasped.

To this, Rath kissed her forehead and for the first time, he didn't speak in third person. "I do."

Ally felt so happy that she wrapped her one, free arm around Rath's chest and Rath hugged her back, being careful not to hurt her broken arm. For a while they stayed quiet and held each other for who knows how long, until Ally let him go and smiled. "I was wrong about you."

"What were you wrong about Rath?" Rath asked.

"Ever since we met, I thought you were nothing but a big, mean old tiger..." She said, and Rath couldn't help but shake his head and laugh, because he had been called that several times by the other aliens. "...But now that we're friends, I think you are noting but a cute, big, cuddly kitten."

Rath suddenly looked at her with a perplexed, almost 'what' look on his face.

"You dare call Rath a kitten." He growled, and Ally found herself being pinned to Rath's bed, with her one free arm held up, and Rath stared down at her.

"Rath, what are you doing? You said you liked me." Ally panicked, but then she saw Rath grin evil.

"Rath does like you, but let me tell ya something, Ally Drewood. Rath does not tolerate being called a 'kitten', and Rath has the perfect punishment for you." He chuckled and when Ally saw her position she realised what was going to happen.

"Oh no, Please, Anything but that," She begged as she saw Rath's free hand lift her shirt up, showing her belly, and then to her horror Rath unsheathed his big, black claw.
"Begging won't save you." Rath smiled and he started to glide and wiggle his claw along the soft, sensitive surface of Ally's tummy.

"AAAHHHH, Aha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, No-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho, Stop it, Sto-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-hop.! It tickles." Ally laughed as Rath sped up the tickling. Due to have a broken arm, Ally could not swat his hand away, and with having her other hand raised up, she knew that after he was done tickling her belly Rath would start on her armpit.

"Heh-heh, Rath likes this tickle torture." Rath grinned, watching Ally's belly squirm and jiggle every time his claw wiggled and poked along a certain area of Ally's ticklish tummy. "Cootchie cootchie cootchie cootchie coo!"

Ally's laughter suddenly went through the roof when she felt the hard, black claw poking and wiggling into her exposed armpit. "AAAAAAAHHHHHH, NO-HO-HO-HO-HO, AHA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! AHA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAA!" Ally could not say a word, but only laughed hard and cried with happy tears.

After about five minutes of the tickle torture, Rath finally stopped and Ally was left gasping for air and feeling very tired. Rath only smiled again, as he picked her up and placed on his chest. "Go ahead and sleep, little sister. Rath don't mind." Ally blushed at being called Rath's little sister but didn't argue. She found herself falling asleep in the Appoplexians arms, feeling protected in his embrace. Outside Rachel, Heatblast and Four Arms heard everything that happened and felt happy now that Ally and Rath were friends now.

Three days had passed since the Ally and Rath became best friends, and during that time Ally's cast was removed, her arm was back to normal. She was happy to see her arm was working and could hardly wait to continue drawing.

Now one day at the Grant mansion, Ally payed yet another visit, starting off with squirting water at Four Arms in the work out room again, and the Tetramand was chasing her around, threatening to tickle her to death. The chase lead to the upstairs bedrooms, and Ally was too busy laughing and running that she suddenly felt her foot step on a rather familiar paw.
"OOOOWWW!"

Uh oh, it was Rath, but not to worry, Rath did not yell at her this time. Instead he held her as Four Arms caught up to her and the two aliens ganged up on Ally, giving her the best tickle torture she ever had. Four Arms was busy tickling her armpits and tummy, while Rath used his claw to tickle Ally's feet, making Ally laugh heartily and happily. She now had two big friends to have fun with. And one of them had now found a special place in her heart.

*Authors Note*

(Well, it is finally done. I hope you all enjoyed my story. Even though it was rough in the beginning it all softened up in the end. Thanks.)