A collaboration between Steelcode, Redbat132, and myself. Here you go, Amigos! :) Enjoy! :)

Sage belongs to Steelcode. Dana belongs to Redbat132. Ben 10 belongs to Cartoon Network and Man of Action. I only own Rachel.

Wolf Meets Ghost

Rachel gathered her purse. "Sage, I have to go run a few errands," she said. "Will you be okay here by yourself for a bit?"

He nodded. "I'll be okay, Aunt Rachel," he said. "I'll stay indoors and follow the rules."

She smiled. "Okay," she said. "I shouldn't be more than a few hours. I think your mom and dad are going to be home this evening too."

That made the boy perk up. His parents had gone to Las Vegas for a few nights and he couldn't wait to see them again. He now hugged his aunt, who returned the hug and headed out.

Though he had been living there for a few months now, Sage was still getting used to the Grant Mansion and spent his free time exploring around, being careful of certain rooms like Frankenstrike's lab and Atomix's lab. While the two usually kept everything secure, it was best to be very careful anyway.

He was trying to recognize everything when, suddenly, he heard a crashing sound that seemed like a vase breaking. Worried now that an intruder had broken in, Sage switched to wolf form and crouched low peering around a doorway, only to spot a human girl with black hair and violet eyes, wearing a red dress with a bat buckle. She was cleaning up some broken glass and sighing to herself. "It's hard to get used to being in a form besides my alien one," she said to herself before throwing away the broken glass. She then paused as she heard something and turned, spying Sage in his wolf form, and she gasped. "A dog!" She exclaimed, getting excited because, having the personality of an open minded little girl, she was eager to pet him.

Seeing her approach him, he began to snarl, acting like a protective guard dog, which slightly freaked Dana out. "Whoa! Easy, fella. It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you," she told him, raising her hands a little in defense with a friendly smile, trying to not appear threatening.

Sage, still feeling defensive, growled again with his ears pressed tight to the back of his head, and revealed his fangs, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

Seeing that the doggie was still not calmed down, Dana grew thoughtful and decided to have a little fun with him by slowly walking near a bed and 'hid' underneath it.

Her behavior confused the boy turned wolf and he slowly moved over there, only to see she wasn't there, which confused him."Yoo-hoo!" He heard from behind and turned to see the girl out the door with a smile before she started running.

"How did she move so fast?!" Sage asked himself, surprised before he shook himself and gave a bark before pursuing her.

It wasn't long before he was hot on her heels and he tried tackling her, but he noticed that whenever he got close she would just turn in time and every time she made a turn out of his sight, he found her somewhere else, which confused him. It's as if she keeps disappearing and reappearing out of thin air! He thought to himself. Like she's playing fetch or hide and seek.

Soon seeing that his plan to reach the girl wasn't working, Sage decided that if he couldn't reach her, then perhaps he could make her go to him. He pretended to stumble and then faked limping around, whimpering as if he was in pain, hoping to get her to come out.

Dana heard him and grew curious before looking back to see he was limping badly and she grew concerned. "Oh, my goodness! You poor, poor thing! Are you hurt?" She said, worried that maybe he injured himself during all the running and turns.

Sage, seeing his plan was working, let her get real close to him before he pounced, effectively pinning her under him.

To his surprise, she lightly laughed, realizing what he had just done. "Tricked me into thinking you were hurt so I would be close of enough to be trapped. You are a very smart doggie," she said, petting his head gently.

He looked at her, confused. "Why is she laughing? Isn't she afraid of being pinned by me?" He thought to himself.

Dana smiled. "You thought I was an intruder, huh?" She asked. "I'm a friend of the family who lives here and was exploring when I saw you. My name's Dana. Wonder what your name is?"

Sensing she was telling the truth, Sage let her up, though he was very curious about her. She giggled. "You're so cute," she said, rubbing his ears gently. "I was watching you and following you around. I thought I was the only one here for a bit."

He cocked his head curiously at her explanation. "Do you live here too, like me?" She asked.

He nodded slowly as she smiled. "Ben brought me here and Rachel took me in," she said. "Because I'm not fully human."

Sage cocked his head again curiously and she giggled. "Watch," she said, closing her eyes and transforming to her Ectonurite form. The boy was surprised by that and took a closer look at her. She looked very similar to his uncle Ghostfreak and she seemed honest. He relaxed a bit, seeing that she was a shape-shifter too. He then closed his eyes and decided that if she could trust him with a big secret like that, maybe he could trust her too.

Taking a deep breath, he transformed back to his human form and opened his eyes. Dana gasped in surprise. "You can change forms too!" She said in excitement.

"Yeah," he said. "To a wolf."

She looked excited. "That's so cool!" She said.

Sage couldn't help smiling. Dana was enthusiastic and seemed very nice. "So, you know my aunt Rachel and my uncle Ben?" He asked.

Dana squealed excitedly. "Ben's your uncle?!" She asked. "I can't believe it! I'm meeting the nephew of my best friend!"

The teenager couldn't help liking the girl right away. Her excitement was contagious. She suddenly grinned at him. "If you're Ben's nephew, then I bet you're as ticklish as he is," she said, her tentacles coming out and she wiggled her fingers playfully.

The boy gave her a playful look. "You'll have to catch me first," he said before taking off with her hot on his heels.

"Wait! What's your name?" She called out to him as she ran after him.

"Sage!" He replied with a grin.

Dana giggled. "I'm going to get you, Sage," she teased, watching him before going invisible and using the walls as shortcuts.

The boy stopped at seeing she wasn't following and he looked around, only to suddenly be tackled gently to the floor by the Ectonurite, who began tickling his stomach with both her hands and tentacles. "HEY! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed.

She giggled again. "Cootchie, cootchie, coo! I've got you!" She singsonged, tickling him more, smiling as he laughed. "You're even cuter like this."

Sage blushed a little, thankful that he was laughing so that Dana wouldn't notice, though he had to admit, he thought she was pretty and he thought it was cool that she could also shape shift like him. There weren't too many humans that could do that and to have someone else like him made him feel less lonely.

Dana let him up, seeing his face was red. "You okay, Sage?" She asked in concern.

He nodded. "I'm good," he said before smirking. "Are you ticklish?"

She gasped and he pounced on her, fingers wiggling into her sides and she squealed, laughing. "YEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHES! VERY TIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHICKLIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHISH!" She cried out through her laughter, making him laugh.

Rachel came in through the door and paused at hearing laughter and looked down the hall to see Sage tickling a familiar Ectonurite and she laughed in amusement, making them look at her. "I see you two met each other," the older woman said.

"Yeah," Dana said. "You never told me you had such a cute nephew, Miss Rachel."

Rachel chuckled. "You didn't ask, honeygirl," she said teasingly, knowing that Dana was a teenager like Sage.

Sage looked a bit bashful before seeing Dana fly around, giggling. "I think she's really neat," he said.

He saw his aunt smile at him. "She's a shape-shifter too," she said.

He nodded. "She showed me and...I showed her that I was too."

Rachel smiled. "I'm glad you two met," she said. "I know how it feels thinking you're the only one with the powers you have and how good it feels to see you're not alone."

Sage smiled. "Yeah," he said.

He definitely felt less alone now having an amazing friend like Dana.

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