Chapter 1:
Atop his command seat, deep within the bowels of his personal "Throne Ship" that maintained high orbit over the capital world of the Universe (a previously insignificant, backwater level two blue-world called earth), Prince Benjamin Tennyson the second, as he preferred to be called (anyone daring to call him 'junior' aside from his family usually winding up with a sentence in the Null Void or an execution sentence if they were lucky), was busy resting his head on his fists in boredom, as per usual.
Two earth decades ago, his father, from whom he was named after, had managed to wield the power of an unbelievably powerful cosmic and demonic entity in the palm of his hands. Back then, he was just 15. Back then, he was known as the world's AND the Universe's greatest hero. A paragon of virtue that, when the chips were down and the odds looked bleak, always managed to pull through in the end and allow goodness and decency to prevail.
But in that moment, wielding power that could tear the entire Universe asunder if he so wished, something inside him changed, or was unburied depending on your point of view. Something Vilgax, his oldest and most hated of villains had said to him just made...sense. Despite the fact that he wasn't Ben's favorite person in any of the dimensional realms he had been to...what he said ringed true in his mind. And despite the protests of his cousin Gwen, his best friend Kevin, and his 'then' girlfriend Julie, he proceeded to do just what his arch nemesis had suggested.
However...he didn't just stop at earth. Oh no. He didn't stop until the entirety of the Universe was rid of evil and accepted him as its rightful lord and master. Soon, any and all of those who would oppose him either bowed before him or suffered punishments he felt befitted their...transgressions.
And so, since then, the Universe had become one of peace and order under his benevolent rule. He eventually married Julie and together, the pair had ten sons (of which, Ben Junior was the youngest) that were groomed, practically from birth, to be strong and capable rulers (with varying levels of success, of course). Recently though, something had changed.
His father the five oldest of his brothers started appearing less and less in their respective courts. Rumors began flying about that claimed that they had been abducted and replaced by agents of some of his detractors who had managed to somehow escape his many purges. Though the Prince personally saw to the punishments and demotions of anyone who dared to incite the populace with such drivel...he admitted that his own curiosity was piqued, made no better by the fact that he was a VERY spoiled rich kid.
So, one earth cycle, he decided to pay the Supreme City of Bellewood and the Imperial Palace therein ask his regal father what the big deal was. Imagine his surprise when he found out that his often missing father and brothers had taken multiple sabbaticals to various OTHER Universes for the express purposes of fun, recreation, and to gather intel for when they eventually started their latest top secret project: "Operation Omniverse." Imagine the childlike glee etched onto his face at the thought of beating the crud out of whole new aliens and monsters on whole new worlds with the shear awesome power him, half of his siblings, and their illustrious father possessed together.
So, you easily imagine how he felt when he was told that he was "too young," "too inexperienced," and still "too much of a little twerp" (that last one coming from his brother Kevin who probably got it from their Uncle Kevin. Considering how they tended to act towards him however, he used the term "brother" and "Uncle" when referring to them VERY loosely, usually replacing them with much stronger and vulgar words he had picked up). After being denied, he did what any ten year old worth his salt would do when one of his parents denied him something he really, REALLY wanted: went behind this parent's back by asking the other one.
When his mother told him 'no', he stormed off as petulantly angry as he could (which turned out to be rather pouty in a humorous way, if the way the court attendees, palace guards, and even Julie herself were trying to hold back barely contained giggles was any indication) and teleported himself back onto the bridge of his Throne Ship, the B.T.S. "Runt of the Litter" (guess which Dynamic Duo with the same first names christened that particular ship when he was three?) where he proceeded to do something his father was also good at doing at that age. Using his Omnitrix to take out his aggression on robots.
Though this helped alleviate his anger somewhat. there was just something about maiming and mutilating machines that, while fun, wasn't quite the stress reliever doing the same to living beings was.
And so, there he sat on his little throne in his personal ship, busy resting his head on his fists in boredom, as per usual, trying to decide if he could manage to sneak off to the homeworld of the Petro Sapiens and get some of the warriors stationed there to fight him, and whether or not he was prepared to deal with the consequences his elders were going to saddle him with if they found out. It was around that time that a loud and noticeable rumbling in his stomach came, bringing with it the sense of emptiness that signified huner.
Pressing a button on the gauntlet on his right wrist, Prince Ben called his Royal Attendant.
"Hey Animo! I'm feeling famished over here! Make me some jellyfish gumbo would ya!?" He barked out indignantly.
He waited a few seconds for the bumbling scientist to respond in his typical lick-boot fashion, but found himself growing more and more impatient as more and more time ticked by.
"Hey! Did you go deaf again feeding the howler monkeys!? I said I want some grub here!"
After another few seconds of receiving nothing but static in return, Prince Ben put a finger to his chin in thought, staring at the ceiling. "Hrmmm...maybe this stupid thing is busted again..."
Suddenly, a deep booming voice spoke, seeming to shake the entire ship itself with each word. "I'm afraid not Mr. Tennyson, though that was a very educated guess that most people, even adults, would make, so kudos."
The Prince's eyes widened in shock (and fear, though he'd never admit it to anyone) and he looked towards the bridge crew, specifically, a large and tall Vilgaxian with significant cybernetic enhancements in his early teens.
"Captain Cyber!" He shouted out. "We have an intruder aboard the ship!"
The Captain however, didn't respond to this yell from his sovereign. In fact, he didn't seem to be moving at all. After a few more moments of observation, Prince Ben found out, much to his further horror, that the bridge crew wasn't the least bit animated either. Everyone, save him, appeared to be frozen in ti-
"Awww crud." The Prince squeaked out in an undignified manner he just knew his family would tease him about if they ever saw it. Quickly, he leapt off of his throne and onto his feet, pressing the Imperial Symbol (which, once upon a time, was the intergalactic symbol for peace and of the old institution of plumbers) on the chest area of his royal black and white regalia. The seemingly flimsy cloth that comprised his robes suddenly hardened, forming into armored suit not like those worn by the knights of old (or the forever knights) that was as tough and as durable as the strongest metal in the Universe, Taydenite, that amplified his strength by a factor of ten (though at times like this, he wished it was amplified by a much higher product of ten, like the armor his brothers and fathers had).
The most unique things about the armor though, was that when it activated, it managed to unlock the hidden potential of his Annadite heritage buried inside of his DNA. Though he could already do this himself to some degree, the suit managed to increase his power and skill with mana to a degree that he was now more or less equal with his Aunt Gwen when she was sixteen.
Even with all of the advantages the armor provided him with though, and the fact that he was highly proficient in combat with it, his parents STILL wouldn't give him a plasma beam saber to sword fight with for his birthday OR Christmas! Always something about "you'll poke your eye out kid!"
Oh yeah! And he doubted that, if the intruder was who he thought he was, he'd be able to take him...even with a plasma beam saber.
Still, he took a fighting stance, his eyes and clenched fists glowing with white hot energy with black speckles here and there.
"Show yourself time-walker! I know not what dark machinations you have for me and my empire, but I can assure you that I will put an end to them!" He said in his most regal of voices, not managing to betray a single ounce of fear and unease he was feeling at the moment.
In response, the voice gave a snort. It sounded like it was...'amused'.
"Once again, you have managed to make an informed deduction well beyond what is typical of the average human your age. Bravo Mr. Tennyson." It said before Ben heard a trio of drawn out claps. "However, much like last time, I regret to inform you that your assumption about my identity being that of Professor Paradox is incorrect."
Suddenly, off to his left side, the Prince saw a shimmering blue portal appear and deposit something before blinking out of existence. Said something was a human male, middle-aged. clad in a black white business attire and dark sunglasses with an old, primitive ear-piece sticking out from the left side of his head, the wire disappearing into his coat.
"Besides, if I was him, don't you think a better stratagem would be to go back to the moment your father seized control of Dagon's power and stop him or, better yet, prevent him from being born altogether?"
Instead of responding verbally (despite the fact that he REALLY wanted to) the Prince opted to send a rather large torrent of energy from his fists at the guy. He had learned that, in a fight, it was usually best to cut the chatter and land the first strike. Though, because of his power and the usual stock of his opponents, he often found himself bragging and gloating like he was, well, the Prince of the Universe, against something that could manipulate time with apparent ease, he decided it was best to adopt a policy of pragmatism instead of his usual dramatic style. For now anyways.
However, as the two streams of power continued to collide with their target, it became increasingly obvious to him that he was harming him about as much as Ditto could Way Big. I.E., not at all. Heck, the most it seemed to do was cause him to raise an eyebrow. Eventually, he tired of maintaining such an intense output and fell to his knees, trying, but failing, to not begin panting.
"Finished?" Came the man's one word response. When the Prince's reply was to shoot him a glare, still panting, the man gave another, similar reply. "Good."
With inhuman speed, he rushed forward and gave the Prince a rather forceful shove to the chest with one of his palms, knocking him into his throne. Though his armor protected the rest of his of body, the back of his head collided with the back of the seat and caused his vision to go blurry. "Take a seat." The man continued, Ben rubbing the back of his head to help clear his vision and finding that, at least, the attack didn't draw blood.
His sight more or less normal, Ben sent another, much more deadly glare towards the man and snarled out a challenge. "Make me creep!"
As soon as he tried to get up and throw an awesome haymaker to the man's face that his friends would route for though,the man rushed forward and pushed him back into the seat again, much more forcefully. "I said: take a seat."
Now getting angry as well as annoyed, the Prince made a move for his omnitrix so that he could make this insolent timewalker who DARED to treat him like a child (something he got enough of from his folks) feel what it felt like to 'take a seat'. However, as the fingers of his right hand were within a hair's width of the black and green dial, he suddenly found himself unable to move it further, despite his efforts. In fact, he found himself unable to move ANY part of his body, save his eyes. Eyes that were moving about frantically in his skull as his mind tried to come to the conclusion of what exactly was occurring. A conclusion he reached when he found himself lifted into the air by some unseen force and rather unceremoniously dropped back into his seat.
"Great. This guy's telekinetic." He thought, fixing black and white crown on his head.
"Why yes. Yes I am." The voice of the man said, inside his mind.
The Prince blinked Owlishly. "Aaaaaand he's telepathic enough to bypass all of the mental defenses guarding my psyche and read my mind without permission." He continued to think, "Well this day just keeps getting better and better."
"I take it then that you're thoroughly convinced that if I desired to harm you, truly harm you, that I would have done so already in any number of ways?"
Prince Ben narrowed his eyes on the man for several tense seconds before taking on a more neutral look and shrugging.
"Eh. I guess. It's not like I could reach my Omnitrix in time to transform before you stopped me with your mind if you did come here to hurt me, and my natural Anodite talents didn't seem to be doing squat, so, why not?" He asked, throwing his hands up into the air half-heartedly before holding his head with a palm and looking every bit as melancholy as he did earlier. "So, what are you here then timewalker? Come to whisk me away on a Universe saving adventure like that wretch Paradox used to do to my father because I'm the only one of my bloodline available to you at the present?"
Blowing away a lock of disheveled hair that had obscured his vision, the Prince continued before the man could speak again. "Because, if that be the case, might I suggest the four of my brothers still in this dimension? Or my Aunt and Uncle? Or my cousins? Or even my own mother? Better yet, why don't you manage to track down the five of my siblings off having epic adventures worthy of song in every language in every Universe has 'has', 'is', and 'will' be with dad!?" He said with all of the venom he could muster (which turned out to be quite a lot). "I bet you half my Empire that anyone of them isn't "too young", "too inexperienced", or "too much of a little twerp" like yours truly for such a task!"
His little temper tantrum over, Ben crossed his arms over his chest, snorted derisively, and pouted his lip in a way that he was certain would show how angry he was, but just ended up making him look unintentionally adorable.
The man's face though, remained as impassive as stone.
"As interesting as such a development would no doubt be, that is not what I am here. Though I will admit that the real reason is not too far off."
After a few seconds of tense silence, the Prince quirked an eyebrow. "Well...go on then! Don't let me stop you, not I could either way..." He trailed off.
The man took off his sunglasses and began wiping the interior of the lenses with a handkerchief from his breast pocket. As he did, the Prince took stock of his eyes. Oh they seemed to be a typical and uninspiring blue, but if one were to stare long enough (which he did), they would notice that green...symbols of some sort flashed across them, seemingly at random.
"Ooookay...someone just took a few leaps in the creepy department..."
Slapping himself in the face (literally this time) for thinking that when their was such a powerful telepath in his midst who was probably actively keeping tabs on his mind just in case he tried something, the Prince hoped that the man was the merciful sort, or at least, patient enough that he would let that comment slide. After all, he was probably used to that by now. Heck, with his powers and abilities, he probably had already been called a freak a LONG time ag-
"Stupid brain! Quite thinking! If what half of big brother Lenny says is true, it shouldn't be that hard for you!" He inwardly berated himself, punctuating his frustration with another slap to the face.
The man, to his credit, only broke the stoic and unmoving look on his face to raise a single, questioning brow before it reset to its default impassiveness.
"I shall be frank with your Mr. Tennyson." Began the man, pocketing his glasses away in his pants. "I came here to offer you a deal. One that I have no doubt that you will find to be challenging and difficult to fulfill your own end of it, and whose consequences for failure you'll find to be most...'unpleasant'. I give you this warning now as a courtesy and strongly suggest that you keep it in mind when I impart the following information upon you and when the time comes for you to make your final decision. Do you understand?"
Ben merely waved him off. "Yeah yeah, whatever. Just get on with your stupid offer already! I have jellyfish gumbo to eat here ya know!"
The man sucked in a breath of air. "Very well then. My name is Smith. Agent Smith."
Ben's eyes widened at this and he opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the "agent". "Before you ask, no. I'm not the same agent from that parallel Universe where Nanites have gone rampant on earth and created that "Rex" fellow that your father once teamed up with. That man's name was Six. Though...I am informed that both of them were destroyed along with an island formerly inhabited by the other agent's martial arts master by your father and your brothers."
The Prince merely shrugged at this. "Eh, stuff happens." He said, before another epiphany struck him. "Wait, how did you-"
"-let's just say that it is my business to know such things. Much like it is my business today to offer you the chance to prove to your father that you are indeed good enough to join in on his venture, and, to to do so in a way that you will undoubtedly find most enjoyable."
"Wait..." Began Ben skeptically. "You're not saying-"
"Yes. I can offer the opportunity to travel to a new Universe. One that none of your family members, even your father, is aware of. One that you have a decent enough chance of conquering."
If the Prince's eyes had grown any wider at this, they probably would have fallen out of their sockets. Here it was! What he had wanted ever since he was told off earlier that day! To show that he was ready to face off against the kind of challenges his elders could so that he could fight by their side. With all of the force of his will, he fought off the urge to pump both of his righteous fists into the air and shout out a "yeah" or an "awesome" and regained his composure and his skepticism.
"Really?" He asked in a disbelieving tone. "How and what's the catch?"
"Simple. If you agree, I will open up a transdimensional rift a few kilometers from the bow of the "Runt of the Litter" that will allow the passage of this vessel and a full squadron of Imperial ships to the other Universe before being sealed off." He said, as if doing so really was that simple, "The catches are that the other end of the rift will deposit you and your forces over a planet in that Universe's Milky Way that is not its version of earth, you will be given a total of one earth year to complete your conquest of the galaxy, and that, should you fail, you forfeit not only your life, but your very soul to be used by my...employer, in whatever way he see's fit."
The Prince sighed and shook his head. "There's always a downside to everything."
In this case, said downside was a doozy. Those other two weren't so bad, as the standard Hyper-Drives for any given Imperial ship could cross intergalactic distances in second and he was extremely confident in his ability to subjugate this new Milky Way well within the allotted time frame (despite the agent's previous warning), but still. The penalty for failure was rather...severe. But then again, aside for waiting for several years, how else was he to show his mettle. But if he failed...he wouldn't even have any mettle to test. Then again, if he truly was so confident that he could take over this galaxy, why was he spending so much time worrying about the consequences in his rather unlikely defeat? But-
"Uhhh..." Ben said, massaging his aching cranium while his indecision buffeted him as though he were an unshielded ship in an asteroid belt, beads of sweat starting to flow from his forehead.
"To help your decision making process, I am prepared to give you a preview of this other Earth. A short forty-eight hour trip so you can acquire a better picture as to its nature, and that of the Universe it resides in. Here's the contract for that."
From another, smaller blue rift not unlike the one he had first appeared through, Agent Smith pulled forth what, at first glance, seemed like a typical, if primitive, paper contract that looked like something in the driest portions of a museum (the most exciting and riveting portions to him, of course, being the parts dedicated to wars). But, just like with his eyes, if one were to do a double take, they'd find a most...unusual quality about it. Mainly that it had faint, orange-yellow glow.
"Ominous."
After snatching it greedily (and rather rudely) from the man's hand, his eyes began to quickly scan over the document. In essence, it confirmed what Smith had told him and further went on to say that, if he decided not to invade after this "trial run", he was not obligated to sign the contract for the "full deal", as the earlier proposal was called. He admitted that it seemed like a much more tempting offer than that one right now...Add in the fact that, should his life become seriously threatened, he would be warped back to the bridge of his ship, and his decision came not long after.
"How do I sign-up?" He asked.
"Merely think of your signature, and it should appear on the document."
Staring intently at the bottom line on the paper, caused his signature to appear in green ink stroke by stroke, as though someone was actually writing it down. Seconds later, the document began glowing brighter before blinking away from existence.
"Thank you Mr. Tennyson. We shall head for the other earth at once."
Suddenly, Agent Smith disappeared inside another rift and, not long after, Prince Benjamin the Second's world became a deep shade of cyan.