Ben's forehead slipped off the glass and a dull thud could be heard as his head hit the window panel leaving an angry red mark in its wake. Gwen giggled and closed the lid of her laptop. "See?" she asked.
Ben rubbed his forehead and stuck his tongue out at Gwen. "Shut up," he muttered quietly so that their grandpa couldn't hear.
Gwen kept a smug grin on her face as she got up to rest in the back of the RV. Ben glowered at her until her form was no longer visible because of the blanket she pulled over herself. His small reprieve from boredom done and over with he turned his gaze back out of the RV. "Grandpa," he whined out while watching the white dashes fly past the vehicle.
"Yes, Ben?" Grandpa Max asked in a knowing voice. He remembered his son being just as bad on long road trips.
"How much longer?" he muttered, finally putting his head in his arms because of the headache he could feel beginning at the base of his neck.
"Don't worry Ben, we haven't got too much more to go. We'll be at the next town by sundown," his grandfather answered fairly.
"Which is in…" Ben asked, letting the end trail off so that his grandpa could fill in the rest of the sentence.
"Two hours," came the answer.
Ben groaned and curled up on the table cushion. He stared at the ceiling of the car and let out a huge sigh that he knew everyone else in the RV could hear. He didn't really care because he was bored and tired and crabby and everything a boy his age really didn't want to be.
Grandpa Max smiled and continued to drive down the highway towards the campsite he had wanted to visit all summer.
Two hours later they pulled into the town that grandpa had promised to take them to. He knew they could probably make it to the campsite if he was given another two or three more hours but the looks on his grandkid's faces told him that he didn't have two or three more hours left. He doubted he had sixty seconds left.
He pulled up to a nice looking hotel and stopped the car. "All right, everyone out," he said good-naturedly.
Ben cheered and jumped out of the car, stretching his arms high above his head and gazing at the dimming sky. "Finally," he said happily and walked around the RV a few times to stretch out his cramped leg muscles.
Gwen emerged, tired and somewhat crabby. She too stretched and yawned and looked over as her grandpa also came out. "We're checking in here?" she asked.
"That's the idea," he answered and locked the RV. "Come on Ben, after we check in you can go play in the arcade."
"Yes!" Ben cheered, pumping his fist into the air and dashing into the lobby.
Gwen rolled her eyes and Max hid a smile as they followed him in at a much slower pace.
Ben was bobbing up and down by the reception table as Max slowly made his way towards him. The attendant looked from Ben to Max and nodded at Ben. "He yours?" she asked in a southern drawl.
"Yes, we'd like a double room, non smoking please?" Max replied, pulling out his wallet.
The woman nodded, "How many nights?"
"One," he replied, handing over his credit card.
She typed something into the computer and handed him back his card and two magnetic keys. "Enjoy your stay here," she said with a smile and nodded at the family behind them.
Max quickly scooted Ben and Gwen out of the way before putting his card back into his wallet and looking at the room number. He looked at the nearest sign and saw that their room was on the first floor. "All right kids, let's go," he said and nodded towards the hall they were to go down.
Ben ran down the hall with Gwen in pursuit and Max not far behind. Max stopped at the door labeled '103' with Ben almost at the end of the hall and Gwen halfway there. "This is it!" he announced loudly so that his grandkids would come back.
Ben and Gwen were forced to double back as Max ran the magnetic card through the slot and opened the door. Even though he was by far the farthest one away from the door when Max started to open it, Ben somehow made it into the room before anyone else. Max shook his head amusedly while Gwen merely scoffed and jumped onto the nearest bed to resume her nap.
Ben looked around the room once, then recalled his grandpa's promise. "Can I go the arcade now? Please?" he asked, even putting his hands together in a small begging gesture.
Max chuckled and handed the extra key to Ben. "All right, but be back by eight, all right? That gives you an hour and a half, more then enough time to waste all your current pocket money."
"I'm good at those games, I probably won't spend more then a few dollars," Ben said proudly.
"I believe it," Max muttered under his breath. "Go ahead," he told Ben but his grandson was already out of the door. Max shook his head, flipped on the TV and reclined in the bed, tired from all the driving he had done that day.
Ben went into the game room and found a shooter game he prided himself on to be particularly good at. After getting a few coins to feed to the machine he settled down and began to play happily. Blasting alien scum after spending close to 10 hours in the car was a great stress reliever although it was nothing like the real thing.
While Ben continued to pulverize the digitized aliens on the screen in front of him he was oblivious to the current activity going on behind him. Hoverboard came out of the shadows and stood behind the spunky boy. Ben stayed completely out of the know until the very end when he took down what he knew to be the boss of the game and the game won screen came up. To his delight he noted that he also achieved the highest score of anyone to play on that particular consul. "Oh yeah!" he cheered, dropping the fake gun and turning around. "I won, oh yeah!" he said again and opened his eyes. He saw the torso of Hoverboard and his eyes slowly traveled up to meet his eyes. "I… hello there," he said slowly.
"Hello," Hoverboard replied calmly. "I'd like to have a talk with you and your grandfather, do you have a minute?"
"Of course," Ben replied, still a bit stunned. Behind him the music that announced the winning of the game and the ceremony of having one's initials put into the game to be cemented forever on the screen flashed. Ben turned around, grinned sheepishly at Hoverboard and said, "Hold on one second, I wanna do this first."
Hoverboard crossed his arms and waited patiently while Ben put his initials into the game and jumped out of the way. "All right," he said good-naturedly. "Um, how are you planning you get from here to my room without being seen?"
"I have a cloaking device. Can we get a move on, I don't feel safe here," Hoverboard said with a small bit of nervousness betrayed in his voice. His apparent worry scared Ben a little because the last time they met he remembered Hoverboard as someone who was very sure of himself.
Ben walked back to his hotel room and he noted the sound of heavy footprints behind him but he couldn't see Hoverboard due to the alien-cloaking device that he apparently was wearing. When he got to the room he slid the magnetic key through the slot and opened the door. "Grandpa?" he called out.
Max turned off the TV. "Ben, I thought you weren't going to be back for another hour. What's up?"
Ben stepped out of the way and Hoverboard's massive form could be seen as he tried to squeeze through the doorway of the room.
"Oh my," Max gasped, jumping to his feet. "Gwen, get up."
"He's a good guy," Ben said quickly. "He's the one that gave me the hover board, remember?"
"Of course I do," Max replied and watched as the hulking alien finally made it into the room. "But I doubt he makes house calls without very good reasons."
"Ah, sharp as ever Tennyson," Hoverboard said as the door shut with a click.
Gwen sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Another person who knows about you grandpa?" she asked with a yawn.
"I only read files about his fight with Vilgax," Hoverboard answered. "Very impressive for a human to bring down one of the most feared warlords in the universe."
Max waved his hand as if to dismiss the praise even though he was blushing. "That was awhile ago," he said. "But onto what brings you here."
"Yes," Hoverboard said, becoming a bit somber. "Mr. Tennyson, I know this will sound weird but due to recent circumstances, none of which anyone could have avoided, I've been ordered to bring the host of the Omnitrix into a custody of sorts."