A birthday story for newbinovelistRD. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy and Happy Birthday! :)
Ben 10 belongs to Cartoon Network and Man of Action. I only own Rachel, Chelsea, Sparkle, and Sasha.
Never Change Who You Are
Ben looked at the Grant Mansion over his shoulder before he took off into the woods and out of town. "It's better if I'm not around them," he said to himself. "Psyphon would have never kidnapped Rachel to try and get my Omnitrix. She wouldn't have been in danger."
The last mission replayed in his mind. They had gone to capture Psyphon when the villain had played a hand they didn't expect and showed Ben and Rook that he had Rachel locked in a cage and from the looks of it, she had been punched a few times. Rook's face had crumpled at seeing Rachel in that state and Ben had nearly lost it as he quickly pretended to give the Omnitrix to Psyphon, but then pressed on it to become Armordrillo and pound the skeletal alien into the ground and break open Rachel's cage so that Rook could get in there and get her out.
As Psyphon was being taken away, Ben had gone over to see how Rachel was doing when the Plumber medics had arrived. Thankfully, she was alright despite some bruises and when they got to the mansion, Wildvine had immediately taken Rachel into his room and treated her bruises with his special salve. Rook hovered nearby until Rachel stood up and the Revonnahgander pulled her close to him, kissing her in relief.
Ben had watched as Rachel comforted Rook before the hero walked away, blaming himself for Rachel being hurt. Well, that sparked more hurt in him and when the other aliens tried to talk to him, he refused to listen and isolated himself from them before running away that night.
Night time was coming on and Ben wasn't sure about where he'd stay for the night, but then he glanced at his Omnitrix. "I wish I could reverse time," he said to himself.
Then it hit him. "I can. With Clockwork."
Ben immediately began planning out what he'd do and found a place to park his car and quickly turned the Omnitrix to Clockwork. "I have to stop my younger self from getting the Omnitrix," he said to himself as he pressed the Omnitrix and opened a time warp, which for some reason made him revert back to his human form and he began to enter the warp.
"Ben, wait!" A familiar voice called and the boy turned to see Clockwork coming up to him. The temporal alien gently grabbed the boy's right wrist in his hand as he stepped into the time warp too, which closed behind them.
"Clockwork? Let go!" Ben demanded, trying to get free of the firm, but gentle, grip the alien had on his wrist.
"Ben, wait," Clockwork said, placing his free hand on Ben's shoulder. "Hear me out first and then I'll let you go."
The hero looked at the alien who had a pleading look on his face and he sighed. "Alright," he agreed softly.
What he didn't expect was for the large, gold-colored arms to surround him in a hug. The unexpected gesture caught the young man off guard as he also noted that for being made of metal, Clockwork was surprisingly warm. "Ben," Clockwork said softly, his accented voice gentle. "Changing the past wouldn't only hurt all the aliens and the people you know, it would hurt you too."
Ben looked at him. "How did you…?" Ben suddenly stopped. "Professor Paradox, right?"
"Actually, Rachel and Sasha," Clockwork corrected gently.
Ben was quiet a moment. "How would it hurt me, though?" He asked. "I wouldn't be chased by aliens that want to kill me and take over the universe."
"True," the temporal alien agreed. "But you'd still be hurt."
"How?" Ben asked again.
"Chelsea."
At first confused, Ben then recalled when Chelsea had stood up for him, saying he was her uncle even though they weren't related. "Ben, do you like being an uncle?" Clockwork asked gently and curiously.
Ben's mind then shifted to Sparkle, the small Conductoid alien. He then remembered when Feedback's parents had rejected the small alien as their grandchild and Ben's grandparents stepped in to take that role because Ben had thought about it and asked them.
"I…I like being an uncle," Ben said honestly and then had a sudden thought. "Wait. If I do go back and prevent myself from getting the Omnitrix, will Rachel and Rook still meet each other? Or Whampire and Sasha?"
Clockwork sadly shook his head. "No, they wouldn't," he said gently. "Because you're the reason the four of them met."
That put a new light on things and Ben looked away, but Clockwork gently tilted the boy's chin up to look at him. "Ben, if you didn't gain the Omnitrix, the Forever Knights would win and kill all of the aliens, including the Plumbers and your grandfather," he said. "You would have no doubt lost your grandfather on that summer trip if you didn't have the Omnitrix to help you protect him and Gwen and to outsmart the Knights and Vilgax."
Seeing Clockwork's point, Ben nodded. "You're right," he said and sighed as he felt Clockwork's arms tighten around him as Ben's shoulders began heaving a bit. "I…I wasn't thinking straight."
"Not exactly true," said the temporal alien gently. "You had good intentions, just the wrong idea about how to carry them out."
Nodding, Ben saw the time warp around them and decided to use his alien Clockwork again to stop it when he felt something strong pulling him in the direction he had been originally going in. "Clockwork! I can't stop the warp!" Ben cried out fearfully.
"Hold on!" Clockwork called out as he used his time powers and grabbed onto Ben, again pulling him into a protective hug. Ben didn't hesitate to hold on to the robotic alien as he saw him use his temporal powers to stabilize the time warp and open it back to the present.
It was a bit scary, and Ben would freely admit that because he honestly felt for a moment they weren't going to get out of the warp, but they got out of the warp in one piece and Clockwork stood up, carrying Ben in his arms as they headed for the Grant Mansion again, rubbing the young man's back comfortingly. "Easy, Ben. We made it back," the alien said gently.
Ben shakily nodded. "Yeah, thanks to you," he said gratefully. "I was so stupid."
"No, not stupid," came Rachel's voice as she met them when they came into the Mansion. "Maybe a bit rash, but definitely not stupid."
"The Forever Knights are stupid," said Sparkle as she came in and jumped up onto Clockwork's shoulder before hugging Ben, who chuckled and returned her hug and felt someone else hug him and saw it was Chelsea. Moving one arm to hug the teenager, he now hugged both his nieces and soon saw everyone come out to see him.
Sasha raced towards him and hugged him. "Ben, you scared us!" She scolded him. "Don't ever do that again, please."
Ben gave her a brotherly hug and felt Whampire hug them both. "It's very important to have people in your life, Ben, and to care for them, because it's not a weakness to have friends," said the Vladat. "It is a strength, one that we have and our enemies don't."
The others voiced their agreements with the Vladat and Ben felt that the best choice was to stay.
"Now that we have you back, Ben," Swampfire said. "We can make you pay for scaring us like that."
The others looked devious and Chelsea and Sparkle giggled. "Tickle attack!" They said in unison.
Letting out a shout of mock fear, Ben took off running with the aliens chasing him, catching him several times and tickling him. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ben laughed out as he escaped Wildvine, who let him as he watched Ben get caught by Ultimate Swampfire, who was merciless in his tickle torture until Ben got away again.
For quite a few hours, Ben was at the mercy of the playful aliens who tickled him to not only cheer him up, but to show they forgave him too.
Rachel was doing dishes and smiled when she heard Ben squealing as the aliens were no doubt getting the young man's tickle spots good. She then dried her hands and looked in a nearby mirror, remembering when she was thinking off trying another look, but now turned away, shaking her head.
A pair of loving arms wrapped around her, making her lean her head back onto the shoulder of the Revonnahgander behind her, who looked at her with love in his orange eyes. "Never change who you are, my love," he said softly.
She smiled. "I won't, honey," she said. "And it sounds like the others are convincing Ben to never change who he is."
"Yes," said Rook as he pulled Rachel close and kissed her deeply. She returned the kiss as Ben's laughter continued to echo through the house.
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GoldGuardian2418